[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

County Championship, Division Two

vs Derbyshire

Day One

Morning: Derbyshire won the toss and elected to bat on a perfect summer Sunday in Kidderminster. At first things were deceptively sedate, with the Pears putting in a very disciplined performance with the ball to keep the openers on a tight leash, and it was half an hour before Dillon Pennington, making his first appearance of the season, took the edge of Billy Godleman on the drive and had him caught at third slip for 8. Ed Barnard came into the attack and pinned Wayne Madsen LBW for 11, and shortly after Tom Lace edged Charlie Morris behind for 1, leaving the visitors 33-3 and in apparent trouble. However, Luis Reece and Leus Du Plooy were able to stick together for the rest of the session, reaching lunch on 63-3 with scarcely a hint of the carnage to come.

Afternoon: The tone was set with the first ball after lunch when Joe Leach had Reece caught at first slip for 31, followed by Harvey Hosein LBW for a duck in the same over and Matt Critchley caught at second slip for 0 with the first ball of his next. The baton was then passed to Charlie Morris, who had Du Plooy caught at first slip for 14, Anoj Dal caught at second for a duck, and Fynn Hudson-Prentice - after a brisk counter-attack - caught behind for 31. Ed Barnard had Ravi Rampaul caught at first slip for 4 to end the resistance of the tail as Derbyshire finished 108 all out, but when Josh Dell was caught behind for a duck to leave the Pears 0-1 in their reply, it was clear that the home side weren't going to have everything their way...

Evening: The movement off the pitch wasn't extravagant, but it was just enough for a seaming ball to take the outside edge or nip in onto a pad, and in the evening sun Worcs found batting just as difficult as Derbyshire before them. The Pears were 23-2, 36-3, 40-4, 60-5, 70-6, 77-7 and 77-8 before Joe Leach and Dillon Pennington provided some resistance. Surprisingly, with a few handy boundaries Pennington top-scored with 18 before he fell LBW to Hudson-Prentice, and with signs that the pitch was flattening, the home side managed to get their noses in front until Leach was caught at second slip for 14 to bring the innings to a close. 113 all out, a first-innings lead of 5, which was immediately wiped out as Derbyshire reached stumps 19-0.