[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

County Championship, Division Two

vs Glamorgan

Day One

Morning: Glamorgan won the toss and put the Pears in to bat on a sunny midsummer Sunday with occasional cloudy spells. After a disastrous T20 campaign and a hard-salvaged draw up at Chester-le-Street earlier in the month, Worcestershire would have hoped for a change in fortunes, but the first ball of the match saw Michael Neser bowl Ed Pollock for a golden duck, while Jake Libby was caught behind off Michael Hogan for 4, leaving the hosts 8-2. Though Azhar Ali offered some resistance, he too was caught behind for 21, and new man Dolly made only 3 before departing LBW. Having debuted at Durham and copped a real shooter, Taylor Cornall showed admirable fight in his second Pears outing, but he was caught behind for 25 some twenty minutes before lunch, and the curtain was drawn on a miserable session with Worcs 84-5.

Afternoon: If, as the rumours suggest, Ed Barnard will be heading on to pastures new at the end of the season, it will leave as big a hole in the team as either Joe Clarke or Tom Kohler-Cadmore before him. For the umpteenth time this season, the all-rounder stopped the rot with a calm and assured head and the assistance of an increasingly solid Gareth Roderick, in a wicketless session that carried the Pears to 173-5.

Evening: When the rain-delayed final session got underway, Roderick was bowled for 46, Joe Leach slapped a cut to point for 12 and Josh Baker edged behind for 10 as the lower middle-order folded. However, with the support of Charlie Morris, there was time for Barnard to complete his century and then unleash an array of fours and sixes, including an audacious ramp all the way over the rope, until an attempted repeat of the stroke saw him bowled for an innings-saving 131. Morris nicked behind for 5 shortly after, and Worcs were all out for 271; a considerably better total than anyone dared hope for at lunch. Three balls into the reply, Joe Leach demonstrated why his absence has been such a loss to the team when a hint of extra bounce and seam movement caused the ball to take the edge of David Lloyd's bat and fly to first slip; in the big man's next over James Harris was squared up trying to play across the line and was caught at second slip, and Colin Ingram followed him back to the pavilion LBW off the final ball of the over. Glamorgan 32-3 at close, and after an excellent fightback it may just be that the momentum has shifted Worcestershire's way in the match.