[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Day Three

Morning: A delayed start on Tuesday thanks to early rain, but upon the resumption, another drop at slip off the bowling of Joe Leach signalled no change in form or fortune for the Pears. Adding 63 for no loss in the curtailed session, Derbyshire took lunch 437-5 and 200 up.

Afternoon: And on and on it went, until Derbyshire at last declared on 578-5, the first innings lead standing at 341. The plan from Worcestershire in response was all-out attack from Gareth Roderick and Jake Libby, but the rather obvious pitfalls of this plan announced themselves when the latter, having already been granted a reprieve with a drop at slip, skyed a pull for an easy catch on 17.

Evening: It went from bad to worse as Azhar Ali was dismissed LBW for 3 in the gathering gloom, but though bad light finally brought a premature conclusion to a miserable day, there was a bright moment for Rehaan Edavalath after the indignity of his first-innings duck, when he scored his maiden first-class runs with a four through third man off Alex Thomson. 70-2 at stumps, trailing by 271 and requiring a lengthy rearguard action to save the game.