[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Day Three

Morning: As Surrey came out swinging, runs and wickets alike came quickly; Dan Lawrence holed out for 87 to Ben Gibbon, Jordan Clark fell LBW for 98 to Matthew Waite, who then removed Gus Atkinson almost identically and set up Yadvinder Singh to bowl Sean Abbott and Dan Worrall, dismissing Surrey 427 all out. But with 513 the impossible target, Worcestershire were already 11-1 by lunch.

Afternoon: It became a full-blown collapse after the interval; 28-2, 30-3, 34-4, 50-5, 69-6, 75-7 and then 102-8 before Nathan Smith and Gibbo mustered enough resistance between them to withstand the Surrey charge and make it to tea on 145-8.

Evening: There was time for Smith to complete his half-century before he perished for 60, and even then Gibbo motored on to his own maiden first-class fifty, en route to a career-best 75. But it made no difference to the match situation, only delayed the inevitable, as Surrey marched home with an hour and a day to spare.

Worcestershire LOSE by two hundred and eighty-one runs

The Verdict: Our campaign was never going to hinge on the two encounters with Surrey, so the only sensible response to this setback is to take the positives - our strong spells of bowling against some of the country's best batsmen - while allowing some self-critical reflection on the softer dismissals among the batting line-up, and perhaps questioning the possibility of further overseas recruitment to bolster our attack. But one undeniable consequence of this weekend is the increased importance of our long-awaited return to New Road next week, because with the T20 break on the horizon and our two midsummer fixtures pitting us once more against the two teams who've beaten us so far, a failure to beat Notts - or worse, another defeat - could potentially see us remaining winless until the autumn's five-game run-in. It seems a horrendous demand to make of a team undoubtedly still reeling from the tragedy that's hit the club this month, but if we're hoping to remain a Division One side in spite of everything, then Notts need to be firmly in our crosshairs.