[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Day Two

Morning: The longest day of the year was a glorious one in every respect as the Pears seized this match by the scruff of the neck. It took just three overs to dismiss Dane Vilas, and Jordan Clark followed him back to the pavilion four balls later as Ed Barnard claimed another five-fer; perhaps a unique one in Worcestershire history if not cricket history, as all five scalps were ducks. The big wicket of Keaton Jennings fell to Steve Magoffin, and with Bailey and Onions departing in consecutive balls, Lancashire were all out for 130 by noon, gifting the home side a first-innings lead of 117. Still, wary of the collapse that both teams had suffered, Daryl Mitchell and Martin Guptill played a watchful knock to guide the Pears to the interval without loss.

Afternoon: However, it didn't take long for the runs to flow. In the afternoon sun, Mitchell and Guptill came out and attacked the Lancashire bowling with a vengeance. The opening stand piled on no less than 215 runs before our Kiwi debutant copped an off-cutter from Tom Bailey that dismissed him LBW for 111. Nevertheless, Worcestershire continued to attack, with Mitch making his second century of the match - the fourth occasion on which he's achieved that distinction, equalling the great Graeme Hick - ably supported by Tom Fell, and making nearly 200 runs in a single session.

Evening: The two set batsmen continued to score for fun until the last half-hour of the day, when a weary Mitch - having been on the field for every minute of this match so far - was finally caught behind off the bowling of Jordan Clark. A bit annoyingly from a Worcs perspective, that prompted a late wobble which also saw Ed Barnard and Tom Fell depart, but the pendulum had already swung decisively in the home team's favour. The Pears close on 354-4 with a stonking lead of 478 runs, and it's now simply a question of when acting-captain D'Oliveira elects to make the inevitable declaration. The weather's set fair and we have two days of cricket ahead of us, so there should be no harm in batting till lunch tomorrow and pushing the lead well up past 500.