[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Day Two

Morning: Saturday gave us the first proper cricket weather of 2018 and an improving pitch, but the Pears still contrived to play like they were batting on a minefield in a thunderstorm. A first-hour collapse left the visitors on 83-6 and looking unlikely to even avoid the follow-on.

Afternoon: It was Ben Cox to the rescue for the Pears after lunch, as the wicketkeeper played the innings of the day to guide the visitors past the follow-on target and within a hundred runs of parity. Unfortunately, his excellent knock of 65 (aided by 40 from Ed Barnard) came to an ignominious end when Cox threw his wicket away with an unnecessary pull to square leg. This sparked a fresh collapse, with the final two dismissals equally soft. Hants were granted a first-innings lead of 79; a lot less than it could have been, but still more than it *should* have been...

Evening: Dropping an absolute dolly at slip on the first ball of the innings didn't bode well, but to their credit, Worcestershire plugged away in the long final session and got their reward with eight wickets falling, including the late prize of Hashim Amla being run out with a direct hit from Tom Fell. Hants close on 163-8, a lead of 242, with only Kyle Abbott still remaining as a capable run-scorer. Worcs have to look to knock the tail over pretty sharp in the morning and keep the total needed under 250. Sadly, with the way the pitch has played and the weather conditions forecast, Hants have probably got enough on the board already, but after a shocker of a day the Pears have done well to keep this one vaguely alive.