Worcestershire’s bowling unit produced another cohesive display to help force their side in front on a gripping first day of Rothesay County Championship action at Visit Worcestershire New Road.
After losing the toss and being asked to bowl first, things were looking ominous midway through the afternoon session when Warwickshire reached 161-2, with batters Sam Hain and Tom Latham seemingly in complete control.
A vital wicket from Ethan Brookes to break the century-plus stand however, triggered a sensational turn of events as the Bears capitulated to 227 all-out.
Tom Taylor, the hosts’ stand-out bowler on the day, finishing with figures of 4-37, was delighted with how his side pulled things back.
“It was a good day. It’s not the day at lunch that we thought was on the cards, but yeah, we pulled it back really well. It’s finished as a good day for us.”
“At lunch, it was 60 odd for two. I thought that session to start with, we were perhaps a little bit unlucky. I thought we bowled a little bit better than the scoreboard shows.
“A lot of runs went down to third man, a few thicker edges could have looked a little bit different, but we stuck in there and we managed to fight back.”
His bowling comrade, Ethan Brookes, by his own admission of his start with the ball, but it was his wicket that broke the vital third-wicket stand to open the door for his team.
After being in the wickets against Essex last time out, Brookes was happy with how he returned to form and could be the catalyst for his side on a wicket that offered assistance.
“I didn’t start how I wanted to with the ball. There is still some little work ons for me that I’m trying to improve on. But it’s nice to get a little bit of confidence with the ball, and then it completely turned around”
“It’s good cricket wicket. Obviously they should have got more runs than they did. That’s credit to us as a bowling unit.
“There’s a little bit of lateral movement but not loads. So yeah, credit to the ground staff, I think they’re producing a good wicket.”
With the sun shining brightly over Visit Worcestershire New Road, it was arguably the brightest day in the Pears County Championship campaign so far, as they looked energised throughout with the ball in hand.
Despite the day belonging to the home side, and the final session providing the perfect ending, Taylor is all to aware of how quickly things can change in the longer format.
“I thought so it was a little bit strange that passage really. I thought they tried to up the ante, I thought they had us, really where they wanted us. And then it happened really fast.
“Then we finished the day 50 odd for none. It wasn’t really how I saw it going. But we did well to fight back and get ourselves ahead.
After showing what they can do when staying engaged in the field, building pressure with the ball and batting in partnerships – the hosts are aware of their capabilities as they continue to look to climb up the Division One table.
After succeeding in bowling out their opponents, Worcestershire’s opening pair of Gareth Roderick and Jake Libby, faced a tricky last hour against a formidable Warwickshire attack as the day came to a close.
Brookes, was quick to highlight the importance of the last hour, as the openers saw their side through to stumps, reaching 53-0 in emphatic style
“It’s something that they did really well last year, they did that really well. And hopefully it’s the start of them doing that again this year. You know, they’re two great batters and they showed why this evening against a good attack.
“I think if you look at the trend of how the last few wickets played, it’s generally deteriorated as the game sort of went on. So we’ll wait and see whether that happens.
“Certainly today, that’s the best the pitch has played. So hopefully we get some good batting conditions tomorrow.”
