[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Day Four

Morning: Picking up the abject collapse exactly where it left off, nightwatchman Josh Tongue and his successor Alzarri Joseph were both caught behind for 7 and 4 respectively. Ben Cox, despite showing some resistance, then departed in the same fashion for 19 on the drive. There was over half an hour left till lunch when Dillon Pennington edged to second slip to bring the innings to its atrocious conclusion with the Pears 80 all out, and with Notts not feeling charitable enough to waive the follow-on, that left plenty of time for Daryl Mitchell to edge behind for a magnificently-made 1 before rain rudely interrupted the clown car pile-up on 10-1.

Afternoon: After a half-century stand threatened to restore some order to the chaos, normal service resumed with two wickets in three balls; Tom Fell caught at short leg for 13 and Jack Haynes caught and bowled for a duck. Jake Libby remained a pillar of resistance on his old stomping ground, bringing up his half-century and his sixth hundredth run of the season so far, but carelessly clipping a legside ball he was caught at square leg for 64, leaving the Pears 114-4 at tea.

Evening: There were forty-one overs to survive, and as it transpired, the hosts would need scarcely more than half of them to finish the job. Riki Wessels, ever the expert at judging the match situation, edged to second slip for 10 attempting a cut, and thus left Cox wide open to cop an early LBW decision for a duck. Brett D'Oliveira, two hours into an admirable rearguard action, lobbed up a leading edge and was caught for 31, and the tail offered hardly any resistance with Joseph caught down the legside for 4, Tongue losing his off stump for 6 and Joe Leach going down at the helm of his leaky ship, LBW for 7 to conclude the innings on 150 and the match as a whole. A truly risible performance for the ages.

Worcestershire LOSE by an innings and one hundred and seventy runs

The Verdict: As the New Road excuse-generator cranks into overdrive, it's vital to maintain focus on the relevant points. Yes, Nottinghamshire have past, present and probably future England Test talent on show; yes, they had a week's rest; yes, the practical need for bowler rotation in a busy schedule hurts Worcestershire. But those factors don't paper over the cracks of the county conceding 400-5 after having the opposition 50-3, nor losing twenty wickets in less than four sessions - many of them to ludicrous attacking shots when some old-fashioned stonewalling was what the situation demanded - nor the repeated failures of the top six minus Libby, nor the piss-poor record of putting the oppo in to bat. To say that improvement is needed would be an understatement, because improvement is the bare minimum required after the last two matches. Between a toothless attack and an increasingly clueless top and middle order, a serious transformation is required in the second half of this Championship season to salvage something from a campaign that's backsliding alarmingly towards the disasters of 2018 and 2019.