[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Day Three

Morning: A gloomy beginning to the great cricketing month of May, but there were few problems for the Worcestershire openers early on Saturday as they saw off the pace attack of Sam Cook and Peter Siddle, then counter-attacked against the change bowlers. Carrying the Pears to Nelson in the process, there was perhaps a hint of excessive cockiness in Jake Libby after smacking Simon Harmer down the ground for six, as he went to cut the spinner shortly before lunch and was bowled for 41. That rash moment opened the door for Essex, and in the space of three balls Harmer went on to have half-centurion Daryl Mitchell caught at short leg for 67 before bowling Gareth Roderick for a duck, sending Worcs in to lunch on a wobbly 135-3.

Afternoon: After a short rain delay, the fourth-wicket partnership played some positive cricket through the afternoon to steady the ship. Tom Fell again looked in good touch, taking a particular liking to Shane Snater with a series of boundaries off the Essex debutant as a wicketless session saw the Pears reach 219-3 at tea.

Evening: After completing his fifty off the third ball of the session by cover-driving Harmer, Fell was caught behind for 53 off a Sam Cook delivery that nipped away and took the edge; his fellow set batsmen, Brett D'Oliveira, was also caught behind for 67 off Snater shortly after, and for the second time in the day the door looked wide open for the visitors. It required some uncharacteristic patience from Riki Wessels alongside Ben Cox to close that door as the day's play stretched on long into the post-six o'clock gloom. There was a tense game-within-a-game in the dying overs as Worcestershire sought to bring up the third batting point while denying a second bowling point to Essex, and the batsmen managed to do both as they reached stumps on 302-5, trailing Essex by 259. In the context of the match it was Worcestershire's day, with the visitors falling a good two or three wickets short of where they'd have wanted to be. Through some serious pitch deterioration or a Harmer miracle, they'll now need fifteen scalps on the final day; the Pears, meanwhile, just need 110 runs with their five wickets in hand to make the champions bat again and effectively force the draw.