Worcestershire all-rounder Tom Taylor produced a deadly spell with the ball on his way to career best figures as Warwickshire were forced to follow on in the Vitality County Championship derby at Visit Worcestershire New Road.
Taylor picked up five wickets in the six overs this morning as Warwickshire were bowled out for 128 in 42.2 overs in their first innings.
The 29-year-old finished with 11-2-28-6 as he surpassed his best figures of 6-47 for Leicestershire against Sussex at Hove in April 2019.
His morning analysis was 5-6 from five overs.
Taylor added one more in Warwickshire’s second innings to take his Championship tally to 23 in only his fifth appearance for Worcestershire.
Warwickshire followed on 179 runs in arrears and provided sterner opposition with captain Alex Davies and Will Rhodes both making sizeable contributions.
But Matthew Waite and Ethan Brookes, who also both bowled impressively, also picked up a wicket apiece as Warwickshire closed on 171-3 after rain halted proceedings shortly after tea.
Warwickshire resumed on 112-4 – 195 in arrears – but quickly were plunged into trouble by Taylor’s dynamic burst of wickets.
The pace bowler had deserved a greater reward than one wicket for his efforts on the second day but quickly made an impact.
His second delivery accounted for Hamza Shaikh (11) who pushed forward and was taken by keeper Gareth Roderick away to his right.
Michael Burgess (3) fenced at a Taylor delivery and Ethan Brookes held onto the chance at second slip.
Taylor then struck with the first two deliveries of his third over of the morning to complete his five-for.
Danny Briggs (2) was lbw after attempting to work to leg and then Michael Rae (0) was beaten all ends up and bowled.
Taylor then had figures for 5-27 and had taken four wickets in the space of 13 balls.
Oliver Hannon-Dalby (2) was yorked by Taylor to complete his career best performance and then Logan van Beek wrapped up the innings as Ed Barnard (10) holed out to Club Captain Brett D’Oliveira at deep mid wicket.
D’Oliveira enforced the follow on with van Beek and Waite sharing the new ball.
Waite picked up the wicket in his first over of Rob Yates (5) who was beaten all ends up by an in-swinging delivery and plumb lbw.
There was still enough in the pitch to encourage the seamers but Alex Davies, who became the first player to score 1,000 Division One runs this summer, and Will Rhodes provided determined resistance.
Davies completed a 73-ball half century with nine fours and a six and also brought up the 100 in the 27th over.
The century partnership spanned 162 deliveries and was worth 115 in total when Brookes accounted for Davies (65) in similar fashion to the first innings.
Davies tried to steer the ball square on the offside but it nipped back sharply and he only succeeded in edging onto his stumps for the second time in the game.
Brookes delivered another excellent spell of 7-4-5-1 post lunch before Rhodes brought up a 117 ball half century.
But Taylor came back into the attack after tea and his fourth delivery accounted for Sam Hain (22) who aimed a blow to the on side and was lbw to a full length ball.
Worcestershire all-rounder Tom Taylor, who achieved a career best 6-28 with the ball, said: “The main is we’ve put ourselves in a great position to win the game. That’s the main thing.
“We set out this morning to put some real pressure on, on a wicket that will do a little bit more in the first session.
“We wanted to get a couple of early wickets and keep them behind in the game for as long as possible. That was the main target.
“We weren’t expecting it to go like it did but that was the way we saw as our best chance of winning the game and putting some real pressure on them.
“You have to be patient but stick on a couple more wickets tomorrow and then you are talking about taking that pressure and putting it into their dressing room and really trying to drive that home.
“For me, it was just one of those days. I just wanted to put some pressure on them and bowl as well as possible.
“Myself and Waitey (Matthew Waite) swapped ends as Waitey wanted to have a go at the New Road End. It is a good job he suggested that because it wouldn’t have gone the way it did otherwise.
“It was a dream start for us and personally it came out nicely and it was nice to get a few wickets and put us in a good position.”
