Report: Worcestershire v Warwickshire, County Championship

Day Four

Will Rhodes struck his third century of the season to steer Warwickshire to safety in their hard-fought Vitality County Championship draw with local rivals Worcestershire at New Road.

The result leaves Worcestershire and Warwickshire on 40 and 36 points respectively ahead of second from bottom Lancashire and both are strongly placed to ensure another campaign of top flight cricket.

Rhodes defied the home side’s push for victory after Warwickshire had followed on and were still eight runs in arrears with three second wickets down at the start of the final day.

Rhodes cover drove Logan van Beek for his 15th four to reach three figures off 198 balls.

When a heavy downpour post lunch ended play, the 29-year-old was unbeaten on 121 and needing just 46 more runs to complete 1,000 in a first class season for the first time.

Rhodes was given excellent support by 18-year-old Hamza Shaikh (33 not out) in only his second Championship match.

Shaikh clearly enjoys batting at New Road as last month he scored 91 for England Lions against Sri Lanka in the tourists only warm up match before the Test series against England.

He helped Rhodes add an unbroken 83 as Warwickshire went through the play possible on the fourth day without losing a wicket.

Warwickshire resumed on 171-3 after being asked to follow on, still eight runs in arrears, with Rhodes unbeaten on 72.

Tom Taylor, who yesterday achieved career best figures of 6-28, and Matthew Waite settled into a steady rhythm and beat the bat on several occasions.

Rhodes leg glanced Taylor for four to steer Warwickshire into the lead and then on drove Waite to the boundary.

There was no nervous 90s for Rhodes who straight drove and cut Waite to the ropes and brought up three figures off 198 balls with a cover drive for his 15th four off Logan van Beek.

The fourth wicket pair were relatively untroubled although the second new ball brought a moral victory for Taylor when Rhodes on 119 edged just short of Brookes at second slip.

But Rhodes and Shaikh safely negotiated the morning session without being parted and added 75 runs in 31.4 overs.

There was only time for six more runs to be added at the start of the afternoon session before the heavens opened and play was abandoned at 2.20pm.

Warwickshire First Team Coach, Mark Robinson, said: “For large parts of the game we haven’t played very well. We should probably have bowled them out for 180 on that wicket. There was enough in it. With a bit of luck on the first morning, there could have been five or six wickets down but we weren’t at our best.  

“We actually didn’t do too bad the next day to be only four down because that was horrendous batting conditions, the light was barely playable and we were on and off all the time. But the next morning you can’t lose six wickets for 14 runs when it didn’t actually do that much. It is not good enough and you put yourself massively on the back foot.

“But we showed some character, Davo and Rhodesy for the majority of yesterday and then young Hamza today.”

Day Three

Alex Davies and Will Rhodes combined for a 100 partnership to help Warwickshire recover from a deadly spell of bowling from Worcestershire’s Tom Taylor that saw him claim a five-fer inside six overs.

Taylor picked up five wickets for just six runs as the Bears were bowled out for 128 in 42.2 overs in their first innings and forced to follow on. Warwickshire lost six wickets for 16 in 9.2 overs after resuming on 112-4.

But the Bears provided sterner opposition second time around with captain Davies and Rhodes both hitting half centuries.

Pears seamers Matthew Waite, Ethan Brookes and Taylor picked up a wicket apiece to leave Warwickshire still eight runs in arrears when bad weather called an early end to Day Three.

Warwickshire resumed on 112-4 – 195 in arrears – but were quickly in trouble by Taylor’s dynamic wickets burst.

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 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 Brett D’Oliveira at deep mid wicket.

D’Oliveira enforced the follow on with van Beek and Matthew Waite sharing the new ball.

Waite picked up the wicket in his first over of Rob Yates (5) who was beaten by an in-swinging delivery and plumb lbw.

There was still enough in the pitch to encourage the seam bowlers but Alex Davies, who yesterday became the first player to score 1,000 Division One runs this summer, and Will Rhodes provided determined resistance.

Young pace bowler Jack Home was on the receiving end of some fine stroke-play from Davies, conceding three successive fours to the Warwickshire captain during a spell costing 41 runs.

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 Ethan 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 playing onto his stumps for the second time in the game.

Brookes delivered an excellent post-lunch spell of 7-4-5-1 before Rhodes brought up his half century from 117 balls with seven boundaries.

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 shortly before the heavens opened.

Will Rhodes said: “The day will be remembered for that morning session. Tom Taylor bowled beautifully and blew us away. In the last few years our lower order has got us out of jail a few times but we couldn’t do it today.

“But we went back out there and Davo played beautifully again to back up his first innings.

“There’s a lot of hard work to do but we’re still thinking positively.

“We’ve been behind the eight ball for much of the game and in the last couple of sessions we’ve dragged ourselves back into it.”

Day Two

Alex Davies became the first player to score 1,000 runs in Division One of the Vitality County Championship this summer on a severely truncated second day against local rivals Worcestershire at New Road.

The 30-year-old began his innings needing a further 34 and turned Logan van Beek square of the wicket for a boundary to reach the milestone during the morning session.

Surrey batter Rory Burns started the day as Davies’ nearest challenger but he was dismissed for 21 against Somerset with his total on 974.

It was the second time Davies had completed 1,000 runs in a campaign after, in 2017, becoming the first Lancashire wicket-keeper to achieve the feat.

This summer he has struck four centuries and averages 56.88.

He eventually fell to Ethan Brookes who delivered an impressive nine over spell which yielded two wickets before bad light and rain ended play for the day at 2.15pm after 37 overs were possible.

Warwickshire needed only four overs to polish off the Worcestershire first innings but not before the home side had secured a second batting point.

Jack Home, who was making his Championship debut, pulled Chris Rushworth for successive boundaries to bring up the 300. But then Rushworth struck twice in the space of three balls.

He ended a stand of 65 between Tom Taylor and Home by trapping the latter lbw for 29 and then knocked out the off stump of on-loan Surrey spinner Amar Virdi.

It left Taylor unbeaten on 36 from 49 balls.

Taylor then took the new ball but only five balls were possible before bad light stopped play with Warwickshire 6-0.

When play resumed after a short delay, Taylor made the first breakthrough when Rob Yates tried to work the ball on the leg side and was caught off a leading edge at mid on by Virdi.

Davies went to his four-figure milestone in spectacular fashion against Logan van Beek during his first over.

He twice hit the New Zealander for sixes backward of square and then a square drive to the boundary took him past 1,000 in an over costing 16 runs.

Davies completed a 59-ball half century with three sixes and six fours as Warwickshire reached 76-1 off 20 overs by lunch.

But former Warwickshire all-rounder Ethan Brookes struck with the first delivery after the resumption when Will Rhodes aimed to work to leg and inside edged through to keeper Gareth Roderick moving away to his right.

There was more joy for Brookes with the prized scalp of Davies (58) who went for a drive but took his one hand off the bat and inside-edged onto his stumps at 91-3.

Van Beek switched ends and claimed his first scalp when Sam Hain (11) tried to turn a delivery on the on-side and was bowled shortly before the players left the field for the final time.

Warwickshire captain Alex Davies, who became the first player to complete 1,000 Championship runs in Division One this season, said: “I would say the game is fairly evenly poised.

“I think we are a couple more wickets down than we would have liked to have been but if you do well, you can create some pressure and it can be quite hard to score.

“This game is going to be dictated by how well the bowlers bowl and you’ve got to ride those periods when it is tough and they bowl well and it is nipping around a bit and then cash in when they fall away or get a little bit tired.

“You don’t ever feel really ‘in’ or that it is a belter and you’ve got the bowler’s number. I thought Ethan Brookes bowled brilliantly today and credit to him.

“Very pleased to get to 1,000 runs. It was a target of mine at the beginning of the season. I always want more as a player and was a bit gutted when I got out today.

“A couple more games to go and hopefully I can push that tally up even further. It’s nice to get those runs but they only really count when you are contributing towards a winning position.”

Day One

Worcestershire staged a recovery on the opening day of the Vitality County Championship derby at New Road after Warwickshire’s bowlers had bossed the opening stages.

The Pears were struggling at 67-4 in testing conditions before Brett D’Oliveira, with his fourth successive 50, provided the cornerstone of a fightback with the top score of 76.

D’Oliveira received excellent support from Adam Hose, fit again Matthew Waite and Logan van Beek in partnerships of 49, 76 and 43.

Waite also made his mark with a fluent half century on his return to action after nearly two months on the side-lines with a side strain.

Oliver Hannon-Dalby, the leading wicket-taker in Division One, added three more scalps to take his tally for the season to 46 and again bowled impressively.

The Bears made one change from the side which had defeated Kent last time out with spinner Danny Briggs replacing Jacob Bethell.

Skipper Alex Davies put the home side into bat on a wicket where the bounce was variable and Hannon-Dalby made the first breakthrough when Jake Libby pushed forward to a delivery which nipped away and was caught behind.

Kashif Ali, who had scored two centuries in the corresponding game at Edgbaston, provided keeper Michael Burgess with another catch off former Worcestershire all-rounder Ed Barnard

Gareth Roderick had his middle stump knocked back by Michael Rae and then former Bear Ethan Brookes, promoted to number four, was lbw to Hannon-Dalby.

The fifth wicket pair of Hose and D’Oliveira extended their partnership to 49 but Hose, having battled for nearly two hours for 33, drove at Barnard and was pouched at second slip

Waite was full of positive intent from the start and was the dominate figure in a half century partnership with D’Oliveira and completed his own 50 from 71 balls with nine fours just before the tea break.

But he added only one more run after interval (53) as Rae trapped him LBW to end a stand of 76.

D’Oliveira reached his latest half century from 115 balls when he late cut Danny Briggs for his seventh boundary.

He found another staunch ally in van Beek in adding 43 for the seventh wicket but on 76 was finally caught low down at first slip by Yates off Rhodes.

The second new ball accounted for van Beek with a third scalp for Hannon-Dalby thanks to Yates again showing a safe pair of hands, this time at second slip. Yates is now the division’s leading catcher excluding ‘keepers.

But Home and Tom Taylor earned Worcestershire a precious batting point before the close during an unbroken stand of 52.

Warwickshire pace bowler Michael Rae said: “The boys bowled really well but you’ve got to give credit where it’s due the way they fought back and played well in the middle session.

“There was probably about an hour where we bowled too short and they capitalised on it and in the last session maybe it swung in their favour, particularly towards the end. It’s a bit frustrating not to knock over the tail.

“It’s going to be a case of coming back tomorrow, doing the job with the ball and getting stuck in.

“Getting through the new ball will be important for our batters tomorrow and then trying to get into a position to win this game. There is enough in the wicket to keep you interested as a bowler.”