[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Day Two

Morning: A half-century from Jake Libby alongside early hitting from Jason Holder in the Saturday sunshine raised tentative hopes, but when the West Indian was bowled for 18 by Ben Raine, he was immediately followed back to the pavilion by Matthew Waite for a duck. Libby went for 61 when his stumps were rearranged on a leave, and the subsidence continued with Josh Baker bowled via a deflection off his helmet from a Bas de Leede bouncer, and Joe Leach caught at midwicket. The last wicket stand counter-attacked, but only enough to lift the Pears up to 184 all out, trailing by 60 at lunch.

Afternoon: Early breakthroughs for Nathan Smith having Alex Lees caught at second slip, and Joe Leach removing Colin Ackermann caught behind for 18, but once David Bedingham played himself in there was only going to be one result, and the Pears thus went in for tea staring at a scoreboard that read 92-2, already trailing by 152.

Evening: There was plenty of time for the Durham lead to grow as the boundaries flowed through the sunlit evening, though Worcestershire struck back with a run-out of Scott Borthwick and Adam Finch having Paul Coughlin caught behind, before centurion Bedingham was caught in the deep on 138 off Nathan Smith. That was to be the last breakthrough, however, as the visitors piled on the misery and reached 319-5 at close, leading by 379. There's talk that the heavy roller may have flattened the pitch, but short of Worcestershire being saved by the same freak weather events that spared Warks and Notts over the last fortnight, it's hard to see any outcome to this match other than the obvious one.