[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Day Three

Morning: After heavy rain washed out the second day entirely, a delayed start on Saturday saw proceedings commence at noon, but Matthew Waite was an early casualty, edging Dale to second slip for 42 after adding just five runs to his overnight total. The tail certainly fought, but didn't wag; Josh Tongue was bowled by Dale for 11, and though Ben Gibbon scored a couple of valuable boundaries, Dillon Pennington edged Dale behind for 6 in short order, leaving the Pears 157 all out with a first-innings deficit of 74.

Afternoon: Ominously hard going for the Worcestershire attack, with the Gloucestershire batsmen not looking entirely comfortable at the crease but the ball never quite finding the edge or going to hand. Tongue made the only breakthrough of the session when Marcus Harris tried to uppercut him and was caught behind for 26, but the visitors were 105-1 at tea with a lead of 179.

Evening: In a session dogged by bad light, Tongue was again the man with the plan, though there was more than a whiff of batsman error to both evening dismissals as James Bracey was caught behind for 51 hooking down the leg-side, and Miles Hammond spooned a catch to mid-on for 15. The gloom eventually curtailed the day seventeen overs prematurely, and Gloucs closed on 172-3 with a lead of 246. With Worcester due to receive a Biblical deluge from around two o'clock on Sunday, it'll be interesting to see whether Gloucestershire still fancy their chances of forcing a result; trusting the Met Office and making an overnight declaration would give them the opportunity to do to the Pears in the morning what we did to them on Thursday, with the minor risk that clear skies and an aggressive approach could yet allow Worcs to chase down that kind of total.