Worcestershire 2nd XI made light work of Zimbabwe in their three-day touring friendly this week, as Jake Libby’s first-innings hundred eased his side to a 10-wicket win at Barnt Green.
With no play possible due to rain on day one, skipper Rehaan Edavalath won the toss on the second morning and elected to bowl first.
The bowling attack prospered in the seamer-friendly conditions, as Zimbabwe were reduced to 62-7.
Ben Gibbon (2-30) and Harry Darley (2-14) bowled with superb discipline early on to remove all four of the visitors top-order batters, before Tom Hinley mopped up the tail with an impressive spell of 3-32 from his six-overs, as Zimbabwe had a tenth-wicket stand of 54 to thank for saving them any severe blushes.
Yadvinder Singh took the final wicket, as Zimbabwe were bundled out for 138.
Jake Libby continued his fine red-ball form with a sparkling 105 not-out, as Worcestershire made their way to 237-7 declared, with a lead of 99-runs.
Dan Lategan (40) played with fluency, while Seth Essenhigh (17), Hinley (20) and Henry Hawes (21*) chipped in, as Libby struck 12 fours and one-six in his 159 ball unbeaten innings, before Edavalath got the game moving by declaring having already lost a day to rain.
It was Gibbon who made the early inroads once again for his side, taking two wickets during his opening spell to leave Zimbabwe 6-2 and in trouble.
That would be his final involvement in that match however, as news came through that Adam Finch had fallen ill, meaning Gibbon would be making the short journey back to Visit Worcestershire New Road to make his debut in that evening’s T20 Blast fixture against Notts Outlaws.
Yadvinder Singh (3-20) once again did the leg work by picking up wickets of the visitors’ middle-order as they looked to settle, while late call-up Josh Leach caught the eye with a brilliant spell to dismantle the Zimbabwe tail, as he finished with 4-31 from 13 overs.
Six batters made double-figures for Zimbabwe, but there were five ducks on the scorecard, meaning they could only amass 185 all-out, with a frail lead of 86.
It was Lategan and Edavalath who opened the batting for the hosts as they made light work of the chase, finishing on 59 and 24 respectively, knocking off the target in just under 17-overs to complete a dominant victory.
