Report: Worcestershire v Warwickshire, Rothesay County Championship

Day Four

Warwickshire tasted deep frustration at Visit Worcestershire New Road as persistent rain ended the Rothesay County Championship derby when they needed just two more wickets to beat Worcestershire.

Chasing 327 for victory, Worcestershire were 181 for eight when the players went off for bad light just before tea. Much to the Bears’ anguish, rain then arrived to wash out the last 47 overs.

Worcestershire had resumed on the final day on 54 for two and appeared destined for defeat when they declined to 87 for six against an attack led by fit-again Chris Rushworth (three for 30) and Chris Woakes (three for 53).

Warwickshire were closing in on victory, but Matthew Waite (44 not out, 55 balls), Ethan Brookes (34, 50) and number ten Tom Taylor (ten not out in 41 minutes) showed great resolve to defy long enough for rain to come to their side’s rescue.

Finding 327 runs on a difficult pitch under thick cloud against an attack led by Woakes and Rushworth is about as tough an assignment as county cricket gets, and sure enough, Worcestershire wickets were soon falling on the final morning. The overnight batters fell in successive balls when Gareth Roderick (37, 75) was adjudged lbw to Rushworth and Kashif Ali edged Woakes to second slip, where Beau Webster took a superb catch, diving forward to his right.

If the batters were blameless in those two dismissals, that wasn’t the case four overs later when Brett D’Oliveira lifted a leg-stump half-volley from Rushworth straight to long leg. When Rob Jones nicked a perfect outswinger from Ed Barnard to wicketkeeper Kai Smith, it was 87 for six.

Waite and Brookes blended the inevitable playing and missing with sound defence and selective counter-attack to add 61 from 63 balls before the latter’s middle stump was plucked out by Ethan Bamber. Woakes soon had Ben Allison caught behind, but Taylor joined Waite to consume 38 minutes before the weather closed in.

Warwickshire were denied the victory they, and in particular Sam Hain’s superb batting – 86 and 87 not out on a pitch on which only one other player passed 50 – deserved. Worcestershire may feel that their luck has turned this season, having followed last week’s win over Essex with a healthy points haul from a draw.

Day Three

Sam Hain’s second highly-skilled innings of the match left Warwickshire well-placed to press for victory over Worcestershire in the Rothesay County Championship derby at Visit Worcestershire New Road.

On a capricious pitch which has helped seamers throughout, Hain followed his first innings 86 with an unbeaten 87 (174 balls) as Warwickshire took their second innings to 280 to set the home side 327 to win. Chris Woakes supported Hain with 42 (74), during which he passed 10,000 runs in all formats, while Jacob Duffy took five for 75.

Worcestershire closed the third day on 54 for two and face a huge batting challenge on the final day when they must make much the biggest score of the match to win it.

Warwickshire resumed on the third morning on 53 for one, already 99 ahead, and soon lost Tom Latham, who edged an aggressive shot at Tom Taylor to wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick. Rob Yates re-dropped the anchor and eked out a valuable 29 from 112 balls before falling lbw, hit on the back pad, by Ben Allison. Beau Webster paid the price for going on the back foot on a pitch, sometimes keeping low when Duffy flattened his leg stump.

That was 86 for four, and Worcestershire were clawing their way back into the match, but the excellent Hain unfurled his second crucial innings of the contest and received important support from the middle and lower orders. Ed Barnard (30, 28) added impetus before top-edging Matthew Waite to third man. Zen Malik helped Hain add 30, and after he sliced Duffy to point, Kai Smith pulled Allison to long leg, Woakes arrived – not a bad player to have coming in at nine. 

The eighth-wicket pair added 67 in 21 overs, lifting Worcestershire’s target over 300, before Woakes edged Taylor to slip. Duffy completed his five-for with wickets from successive balls when Ethan Bamber hit his wicket with the follow-through from a pull and Chris Rushworth edged to slip.

Rushworth wasted no time before inflicting damage with the ball when he knocked out Jake Libby’s off-stump with an outswinger. Six balls later, Henry Nicholls copped a tough lbw decision when he appeared to be struck outside the line of off-stump by Woakes.

That was 25 for two and, with 27 overs left in the day, Warwickshire fancied their chances of making match-clinching inroads before stumps. Batting remained a serious test of concentration and technique, but Roderick and Kashif Ali negotiated 12 overs before bad light lopped off 10 overs, with the players returning for an uneventful 5 to finish.

An intriguing final day beckons with an additional factor from some rain in the forecast. Warwickshire remain strong favourites to bank a win, which would owe most to Hain, whose high-class batting in this match was worthy of two centuries.  

Warwickshire all-rounder Ed Barnard said, “Sam Hain has really showed his quality in this match with 160 runs in two knocks on a pretty tough pitch to bat on. We know how good he is – he’s just so calm in those situations and knows his own game so well and he has put us into a really strong position in this game.

“Alongside Sam I think the best thing we did was chip in with 20s and 30s which were all really important in quite a low-scoring game. We know how hard it is to bat here so every run was crucial. For us to get a lead of over 300 we were really happy.

“We can’t control what happens with the weather tomorrow but hopefully it will be kind because we have set the game up in a position from which we have a good chance of winning. I thought we bowled beautifully tonight and could have had much more rewards than we ended up with but a lot of wickets in this game have not been with the new ball. I think that period from 20 overs on, when the ball is swinging a lot more, is where the damage is done so hopefully we can carry that on tomorrow.”

Day Two

Chris Rushworth and Chris Woakes bowled Warwickshire into the ascendancy over Worcestershire on the second day of the Rothesay County Championship Division One derby at Visit Worcestershire New Road.

Rushworth (four for 37) and Woakes (three for 34) exploited perfect seam-bowling conditions to bowl the home side out for 181. That gave Warwickshire a first innings lead of 46 – small but potentially decisive in a low-scoring game.

The visitors closed the second day on 53 for one – 99 ahead overall. It was an encouraging day for Warwickshire and also for England as Woakes safely came through his first first-team bowl after an ankle injury. He looked fluent and in good rhythm as he unfurled spells of 5-2-9-0, 7-3-14-2 and 4-2-11-1 from the Diglis End. 

Worcestershire resumed on the second morning on 53 without loss, strongly placed but in batting conditions which were even more tricky than on the first day. Cloud cover and dampness from overnight rain had been added to the mischievous pitch.

Rushworth and Woakes could not have asked for more helpful conditions for their first competitive bowl of the season, and both took full advantage as Worcestershire’s ten wickets fell for 117 runs. 

Woakes began the collapse by pinning Jake Libby (45, 66 balls) lbw. He then extended Henry Nicholls’ thin spell of form via a catch at third slip. 

Nicholls’ departure was the first of four wickets to fall for eight runs in seven overs as Rushworth found his rhythm from the New Road End. Perfectly pitched outswingers induced three fatal edges in eight balls from Gareth Roderick (24 in two hours), Rob Jones and Brett D’Oliveira.

Under glowering skies, the outside edges continued to come. Wicketkeeper Alex Davies took the catches as Woakes snared Ethan Brookes and Matthew Waite became Rushworth’s 673rd First-Class victim. Kashif Ali’s 159 minutes of impressive defiance for 31 ended when he edged Ed Barnard high to second slip.

Tom Taylor clubbed Webster to mid on, and when the Aussie all-rounder, on his last appearance for Warwickshire before joining up with the Australia squad, bowled Ben Allison through a slog, Warwickshire’s first innings lead was a solid 46.

With the last session to bat, Warwickshire soon lost Alex Davies, beaten for pace and bowled by Jacon Duffy. In murky light, Rob Yates (17 not out, 71 balls) and Tom Latham (15 not out, 54) ground out an unbroken partnership of 38 in 115 balls to cement their side’s advantage while Rushworth’s happy day got even better when his beloved Sunderland knocked in a stoppage time winner against Sheffield United in the Championship playoffs final at Wembley.

Warwickshire bowler Chris Rushworth said: “We’re pretty happy with the way the day has gone. We are sitting quite nicely in the game now. 

“There is always something in it for the bowlers when you put it in the right areas. Balls go past the edge pretty much every over so you have just got to stay patient.

“It’s been a long time since I have played so to just to get a few wickets and be part of being out there again, it’s been a pretty special couple of days. It’s been tough with a lot of work in the gym with the physios. I’m not getting any younger so everything becomes a little bit harder so to be picking up some wickets again is a nice feeling.

“Today there was a little bit more swing than on the first day. The conditions for swing bowling were quite nice and Woakesy is one of the best swing bowlers in the country so we got in a good rhythm, conditions were in our favour and we just tried to make the most of it.”

Day One

Sam Hain bounced back to form with a season high 86 but a late flurry of wickets and a solid reply by the hosts gave Worcestershire the upper hand on Day One at New Road.

Pears’ Tom Taylor continued his fine form with another four wickets as Warwickshire were dismissed for 227.

Taylor took four for 37 as Warwickshire, having been strongly placed at 161 for two thanks to Sam Hain (86 from 152 balls) and Tom Latham (59, 153), lost their last eight wickets for 66 runs.

Worcestershire then reached 53 without loss with Jake Libby on 39 (54) and Gareth Roderick 13 (42).

Warwickshire chose to bat but had to work hard for runs in the morning session as the seamers found plenty of lateral moment. Rob Yates perished to the seventh ball of the day, Taylor’s first, when he edged an attempt to force through the offside to wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick. Alex Davies fell to the 118^th when he was pinned lbw by Matthew Waite.

Latham and Hain retrenched, the former solidly, the latter sketchily at first before settling into some glorious shots, notably sixes down the ground off Taylor and pulled off Ethan Brookes. The third-wicket pair batted diligently to add 109 in 32 overs and were moving their side into ascendancy when Worcestershire struck three big blows in seven overs.

Brookes dismissed Latham with a lovely outswinger which took the edge through to the keeper and Beau Webster who sliced a drive to point. Ed Barnard, warmly applauded to the crease at his former home ground, soon returned to the pavilion nursing a 12-ball duck after edging Jacob Duffy to first slip.  

Hain passed 50 for the first time this season and was within 14 of building it into a century when he edged Waite to second slip. Henry Nicholls accepted that catch and another one 18 balls later when Kai Smith edged Taylor to first slip.

Zen Malik dug in for a well-constructed 34 (58) which included a straight six off Waite to raise the 200 but his departure, lbw to Taylor, triggered the loss of the last three wickets for four runs in four balls.

Taylor trapped Ethan Bamber in front and Chris Woakes, playing his first championship match of the season and only his tenth in seven years, edged Duffy to second slip.

Worcestershire’s reply started at a gallop with 12 from the first over from Bamber. Against an attack including Woakes and Chris Rushworth, each playing their first game of the season after injury, openers Libby and Roderick put 50 on the board from 68 balls.

Sam Hain said: “”We know the wickets here, through absolutely no fault of the home club, do a little bit and that was certainly the case. I thought Worcestershire bowled well in groups and Tommy (Latham) and I just tried to battle it out. I think at one stage I was on eight off about 50 balls..

“It was hard to time the ball but at some point you have got to flick a switch and I had a bit of a gamble and found a little bit of rhythm which I guess has been a bit lacking in the first half of the season.

“It was nice to spend a bit of time out there in the middle, especially with Tommy. Then we lost wickets but that just went to show that on a pitch like this the game can move quickly so tomorrow hopefully we can get three or four wickets quite quickly and that will put the game back in our favour.”