[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Day Three

Morning: Fully twenty-four hours passed without the fall of a Worcestershire wicket, and by the time Daryl Mitchell finally perished to a slip catch off the bowling of Adam Lyth, he and Moeen had shattered the record second-wicket partnership for the Pears against Yorkshire, beating the 231 made by Glenn Turner and Phil Neale at New Road in 1981 and falling only 23 short of an all-time county record. Having worn his pads for an entire day without wielding a bat in anger, Joe Clarke came to the crease and made a fluent 34 before departing LBW to Lyth in the last over before lunch.

Afternoon: The milestones came thick and fast as Moeen made his double century and Worcestershire set a new record innings total against Yorkshire, comfortably beating the 456-8 set at New Road in 1904. The skipper was finally caught at point off Bresnan for 219, the second-highest score of his career after the 250 against Glamorgan in 2013, but still the Pears continued to make hay until the inevitable declaration at 572-7, with a first-innings lead of 356. Not content with merely having dominated Yorkshire with the bat, Moeen promptly set about them with the ball as well, removing Adam Lyth LBW in his first over and having Harry Brook caught at mid-on, leaving the home side 43-2 at tea, 313 in arrears.

Evening: The wickets continued to fall in the glorious evening sunshine, with Moeen having Gary Ballance caught at second slip for 19 and Tom Kohler-Cadmore dismissed LBW for 8. Kane Williamson remained the great hope for the White Rose, but Wayne Parnell (who had, until that point, looked bang average in the bowling attack) struck to have the Kiwi caught behind for 61, flashing outside his off-stump to provide a first Championship wicket for Worcestershire's South African paceman. He followed it up by having Tim Bresnan caught at slip for a duck, leaving Yorkshire 140-6 at close and needing 216 more runs just to avoid the innings defeat. A fantastic day for the Pears in what's proving to be the county's best Division One performance for years. Barring an astonishing turnaround, the visitors will tomorrow be looking at a maximum points victory, while the home side take just a solitary batting point from the game; a huge boon in the fight against the drop.