[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Day Two

Morning: A Friday of real springtime warmth got off to a watchful start, with Ed Barnard and Alzarri Joseph rotating the strike carefully as they nudged the Worcestershire total up from the precarious overnight tally of 305-7 to something more substantial. A first half-century in Pear-green for Joseph wasn't too long in coming, but the Antiguan got a bit too enthusiastic on 61 and drove Zak Chappell to mid-on, leaving the hosts 330-8. With Joe Leach the new man, getting up above 350 was the immediate target, and with the help of Barnard completing his own fifty, the fourth batting point came up with three balls to spare; however, the latter then fell for 61 when he tried to cut Liam Patterson-White and nicked into the keeper's gloves. On 355-9, and with 400 seemingly an impossible hope, Leach set about farming the strike with some highly attritional play, turning down countless easy singles and grinding out a run an over with Charlie Morris trusted to face the occasional delivery. Occasionally the skipper opened up to punish a bad ball, thwacking one memorably unorthodox six over fine leg with a pirouetting periscope-style hook shot played high above his head, alongside a few more typical maximums and boundaries. The skipper's half-century came up shortly before Worcs reached an unlikely 400, and with lunch delayed, the home side made the visitors toil for an extra half an hour in the sun with the break finally coming at 409-9.

Afternoon: The innings went on and on, with Leach continuing to eschew most easy singles even though Morris looked highly capable at the crease, even scoring a boundary with one of the shots of the day. But on 84, having brought up his three thousandth first-class run and with a first century since 2013 undoubtedly on his mind, the captain finally edged to slip after attempting an attacking shot to a sharply-turning leg-break off Patterson-White, and Worcestershire were all out for 436; a total that had seemed impossible overnight. In reply, Notts made their way to 31-0 by tea, but the absence of Brett D'Oliveira from the field was a troubling omen that left the hosts without their foremost spinner.

Evening: A long and lazy final session excited little in the way of alarm for Notts on a flat track, though the Pears bowled a good line that kept the scoring firmly on a leash with boundaries at a premium on a slow outfield. Daryl Mitchell kicked up a fair bit of dust from the surface, but with Dolly still off the field there was no hope of testing the visitors with any leg-spin, and their progression to 99-0 at close was a tranquil one. Unless there's some serious deterioration in the pitch over the final two days, the pattern and trajectory of this match points to a high-scoring draw, and on Saturday the Pears desperately need to spin it to have any hope of winning it.