[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Day Four

Morning: After the predicted Coronation Day washout on Saturday, bank holiday Sunday dawned sunny with Worcestershire more or less needing to bat out the day. It would have been a brave man who bet on Ed Pollock carrying his bat, and sure enough, the opener was the Sabbath's first casualty as he edged Ollie Robinson to second slip for 17. It was the beginning of yet another testing spell from the England man, who then had Jack Haynes caught behind for 7 with the day not half an hour old, but with Adam Hose promoted to number five, he and Azhar Ali wisely treated Robinson with caution while punishing the bad balls from Sean Hunt and Henry Crocombe, advancing to a fifty partnership within fifteen overs and wiping out the first-innings deficit in time for lunch, which was taken with the Pears precisely on parity at 109-3.

Afternoon: While the morning on balance belonged to Worcestershire, the game situation remained in Sussex's favour, and tilted a little further in that direction at half past two when Hose perished LBW for 41 to a Robinson delivery angling suspiciously to leg. Azhar had his half-century by that point, and was joined by Brett D'Oliveira for a partnership that killed above three-quarters of an hour, but just as the game was again beginning to drift, Dolly nicked Fynn Hudson-Prentice behind for 22 to keep everyone on their toes. The Pears took tea on 187-5, leading by 78; again arguably the home side's session, but with plenty to keep Sussex interested as the second new ball was due in nine overs.

Evening: The equation was familiar from so many a Championship Sunday; Worcs needed only to stick to the crease for enough time to grind out a three-figure lead and see the overs tick down till they spelled out an impossible chase. But Sussex had no intention of waiting till the new ball to use their secret weapon, and Ollie Robinson's all-or-nothing reintroduction to the attack wreaked havoc. Ten minutes into the session, Gareth Roderick edged low to second slip for 8; ten minutes after that, Matthew Waite nicked to first slip for 5 while the lead was only 93, and though a couple of helpful boundaries through square leg from Joe Leach put Worcestershire three figures ahead, the new ball removed his off-stump to give Robinson his seventh of the innings within half an hour. Had Sussex mopped up the tail inside that over, they'd have been chasing 120 to win off twenty-four, so hearts were in mouths around New Road as the Great Wall of Redditch, Josh Tongue, blocked everything Robinson threw at him; Azhar proceeded to farm the strike, pulling Crocombe and driving Hudson-Prentice for a boundary apiece while Robinson had a blow, then seeing off the big man's last efforts. As the ticking of the clock and the creeping of the scoreboard drove any potential run-chase north of ten an over, Sussex gamely continued to hunt for the elusive two wickets until Azhar finally eased Steve Smith through the slips to complete his first century of the season, completing an exemplary six-hour game-saving knock.

Match DRAWN

The Verdict: On a principle of "all's well that ends well", it would be churlish to complain about the weather being Worcestershire's twelfth man for the second match in a row, not least because the vagaries of the fixture list made us the first team this season to face the dreaded combination of Pujara, Robinson and Smith united. With Robbo in particular returning career-best figures of 14 wickets - 7 in each innings - many teams would have folded under the pressure, and indeed, Azhar Ali deserves all the plaudits (with nods for Adam Hose and Josh Tongue) in keeping the Pears from that fate. The division thankfully remains wide open as we travel to Glamorgan next week.