[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

vs Glamorgan

County Championship, Division Two

Sophia Gardens, Cardiff

Day One: Pears put Glamorgan in to bat.  On a topsy-turvy day, Worcestershire seemed in complete command at lunch after taking 8 wickets for just 105 runs (with three for Hastings, and a reasonable County Championship debut from nineteen-year-old Josh Tongue).  However, the second session belonged to Glamorgan, who effectively doubled their tally before the last two wickets fell, finishing the innings on 207 and proceeding to dismiss both Mitchell and Dolly for a silver duck each.  With the Pears 1 for 2 and reeling, Tom Fell and Joe Clarke succeeded in steadying the ship before Kohler-Cadmore and Ben Cox put on a further hundred.  Worcestershire close on 180 for 4, trailing by 27.  Pears have the advantage now, and just need a good solid start tomorrow: the aim should be to take a 100 or 150-run lead in what promises to be a fairly low-scoring match.

Day Two: The good solid start came as required, with Tom Kohler-Cadmore completing his century before being dismissed off the very next ball, and John Hastings adding a half-century of his own.  Worcestershire were all out on the stroke of tea with a good lead of 196, and every reason to be happy with the state of play, but the Pears bowlers found themselves toiling a bit against the Glamorgan openers in the final session.  The Championship debut of Josh Tongue became an even more memorable one as he finally got the breakthrough with two wickets in a single over, and Hastings added a timely third, but even so, Glamorgan finished the day on 141 for 3, trailing by just 55.  Ideally, fair weather and a bit of bowling magic are needed early tomorrow; it's almost certain that the Pears will have to bat again, and will want to restrict Glamorgan to as small a lead as they can.

Day Three: And again, all of Worcestershire's overnight dreams came true as Glamorgan collapsed in the morning session.  Josh Tongue completed a very impressive debut by taking 5-45 (including two in two balls), with one further wicket apiece for Hastings and Leach and two for Jack Shantry.  The Welshmen narrowly avoided an innings defeat, but set a target of just 28 for the Pears to chase down.  A slight concern on the batting front as both Mitchell and Dolly were again dismissed quickly and cheaply, but Fell and Clarke completed the victory with ease.  A fine start to the season.

Worcestershire WIN by eight wickets

Star Performer: Though teenager Josh Tongue's five-fer on debut warrants an honourable mention, it was the first-innings century of Tom Kohler-Cadmore (his second in consecutive matches) that really tipped the balance decisively in favour of the Pears at a point when the pendulum could still have swung either way. The twenty-two-year-old batsman made a strong start to 2016 only for his form to fade as the season progressed; hopefully this year, with a little more experience under his belt, we can see a lot more of this from Pepsi.

Next Match: Worcestershire welcome Northants to New Road in the County Championship, with the visitors having won their first two Championship matches for the first time since 1987. The Pears will look to end that run as the race for promotion begins in earnest.