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T20 Blast, Northern Group

vs Birmingham

New Road, Worcester

Worcs innings: Bears won the toss and put the Pears in to bat on a fine, sultry evening by the River Severn. The woes of Worcestershire's T20 batting order have been put to bed on the evidence of this week, as Martin Guptill and Joe Clarke made another enterprising start in the powerplay until the latter went for one shot too many and clipped an attempted paddle to Tim Ambrose behind the stumps. Callum Ferguson continues to shine at number three, and it was plain sailing for the home side until the thirteenth over, when Birmingham began to apply the brakes. Guptill and Ben Cox went in fairly quick succession, and with five overs left, the Pears were struggling on 122-3. However, some big swinging from Ross Whiteley and brief cameos from Dolly and George Rhodes at the death were sufficient to push Worcs up to 192-7 off the twenty, our best-ever T20 innings against the Bears. It only remained to be seen whether our young and makeshift bowling attack could defend that total against a heavyweight Birmingham batting line-up.

Birm innings: After the most inauspicious of starts, with Luke Wood conceding 20 off the first over, the increasingly impressive Pat Brown struck to remove Ian Bell for a duck. Things got better and better in the powerplay as first Ed Pollock and then Adam Hose departed, and before the halfway mark the Pears were in dreamland as Grant Elliott and Colin de Grandhomme were also dismissed cheaply, leaving the visitors 82-5. However, the danger man at the crease was Sam Hain, and he made sure that Worcestershire knew it. The young England prospect made 70 off forty-four balls before holing out to Ross Whiteley on the boundary, single-handedly keeping the Bears in the game. It should, from there, have been a walk in the park as Birmingham suffered a tail-end collapse, slumping to 152-9 with 41 still needed off 23 deliveries. However, at that point the Worcs bowling attack began dishing up short wide balls for Ambrose and Hannon-Dalby to carve away to the boundary, and the last-wicket stand brought the equation down to 12 needed off the last over. Luke Wood accepted the responsibility of closing out the match, despite having travelled the distance in the very first over, and with an outstandingly cool performance he kept the Bears batsmen from finding the necessary boundaries to get over the line.

Worcestershire WIN by four runs

The Verdict: Another damned close-run thing for the Pears, but it would be churlish to criticise two wins from two, especially as this one sets up the mouthwatering prospect of an unprecedented white-ball treble over the Bears this summer. In this kind of form I suspect we have a batting line-up that can hold its own against any other county, but as in the One-Day Cup, the weakened bowling attack will more than likely be our undoing in the long run. Nevertheless, we have the chance to keep this welcome momentum going against Derbyshire on Sunday.

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T20 Blast, Northern Group

vs Derbyshire

The County Ground, Derby

Derby innings: The Pears won the toss and put Derbyshire in to bat on another scorching Sunday in the great heatwave of 2018. There was a suspicion that the groundstaff at Derby had prepared a two-paced wicket in an attempt to restrict the powerful Worcs batting line-up, but if that was the case then it backfired immensely on the home side, who lost no less than three wickets in the powerplay. After Luke Wood struck early to remove Matt Critchley, Dillon Pennington - making his senior T20 debut for the Pears - followed up with two scalps in a single over, including the prize wicket of Wayne Madsen for a duck. From there, Derbyshire simply failed to put any kind of meaningful partnership together, and wickets continued to fall regularly through the innings - including two at the death for Pat Brown - leaving them to stagger to an under-par 135-9 off the twenty.

Worcs innings: There was a fleeting chance of this evolving into a tight game when the Pears lost two wickets in the powerplay, but Martin Guptill proved the difference between the sides, sticking at the crease for a run-a-ball 65 that carried Worcestershire within spitting distance of the target. The visitors seemed determined to play no-risk cricket to the very end, which took the game deeper than might otherwise have been expected, but nevertheless there were a full eight balls to spare when Ross Whiteley finally performed his party trick of hitting the winning six.

Worcestershire WIN by six wickets

The Verdict: I said a fortnight ago that you can't go far wrong with a D'Oliveira captaining Worcestershire, and sure enough, Dolly's spell as skipper continues to impress as the team extend their unbeaten run in all formats to five matches, with four wins among them. The Pears have already equalled the number of victories they managed in all of last summer's T20 campaign, and sit two points clear at the top of the Northern Group; a position they'll look to consolidate on Friday night when they welcome Northants to New Road.

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T20 Blast, Northern Group

vs Northamptonshire

New Road, Worcester

Worcs innings: The great summer heatwave of 2018 finally ended with a menacing thunderstorm over the River Severn in late afternoon, delaying the game for a full two hours. Upon commencing a reduced nine-over contest, Northants won the toss and put the Pears in to bat; on a flat wicket Worcestershire made a great start, and Martin Guptill was the only man to fall in the sixteen-ball powerplay, leaving Joe Clarke and the newly-returned Travis Head at the crease to continue the carnage. The bare minimum the Pears were looking for was a score of 90, and that total was up within six overs despite the loss of the two set batsmen. From there it was down to Ross Whiteley to see out the innings, and in the space of fifteen balls he helped himself to a fine 36, giving Worcestershire a very handy total of 130-3 to defend.

Northants innings: It may be a team sport, but sometimes you can only stand and applaud the performance of a single individual who hands you the match on a plate. For the home side that individual was Dillon Pennington, playing only his second senior T20 game, who came on with the new ball and proceeded to demolish Northants. A first-ball single for Levi was followed by a golden duck for Ben Duckett, who flashed at a wicked ball outside off-stump only to feather through to Ben Cox. Three dot balls later it was Josh Cobb who nicked an outswinger behind, and the visitors were reeling on 1-2. However, young Pennington wasn't done there, as his next over brought the wicket of Levi caught at deep midwicket, followed by a first-ball LBW for Steven Crook; an utterly astonishing spell of 4-9 in just twelve balls. From there it was largely a mopping-up job for the Pears, who conceded a few boundaries at the death to give Alex Wakely a half-century, but were never in any danger of losing a match which had effectively ended with those four early wickets.

Worcestershire WIN by forty-one runs

The Verdict: As comfortable a win as you're ever likely to see in a nine-over match, and already the nightmare of last year's Blast seems a distant memory. The Pears remain top of the Northern Group, and are now the only unbeaten team in this year's campaign. Of course, we found ourselves in exactly the same position in 2016 only to throw it all away with a six-week winless run, but with an explosive batting line-up and the likes of Brown and Pennington going from strength to strength, we have to back ourselves to keep this momentum. For now, Dolly's Severn Valley Special rolls on with the visit of Yorkshire to New Road on Sunday.

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County Championship, Division One

vs Somerset

Day One

Morning: After winning the contested toss, the Pears made the surprising move of granting Somerset's wish and putting the visitors in to bat on a proper July scorcher of a day. In a situation almost identical to the fixture in Taunton back in April, the decision seemed justified by the early removal of both openers, but as Azhar Ali and James Hildreth steadied the ship and reached lunch with no further loss, it ultimately felt like Somerset's session.

Afternoon: The afternoon mirrored the morning, with two early wickets depriving Somerset of both set batsmen, only for the momentum to ebb slowly away from Worcestershire again. When Tom Abell was dropped on the boundary off the bowling of Moeen Ali it felt like a decisive moment, and again, the visitors made it to the break without further incident.

Evening: The dubious decision to insert Somerset finally paid off in the last session, but it was a bittersweet triumph. A minor collapse took the visitors from 241-4 to 266-7 with Moeen the danger man, but just as hopes grew of bowling the visitors out for less than 300, a frustrating eighth-wicket partnership between the Overton twins carried Somerset comfortably above that total. Both were dismissed near the day's end, leaving the score at 324-9 at close, but it's absolutely crucial that Worcestershire strike early tomorrow and keep the total below 350 on a pitch showing signs of formidable turn for Jack Leach to capitalise on.

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Day Two

Morning: The Somerset innings came to a timely end when Jack Leach was caught at slip off the bowling of Ed Barnard, but that was the only joy Worcestershire took from the morning. With 337 the deficit, the Pears managed to lose no less than five wickets in the remainder of the session as the top order were blown away with some ludicrously soft dismissals.

Afternoon: It went from bad to worse after the interval with Barnard and debutant Alex Milton removed in the space of four balls, leaving the Pears 120-7, and the power hitting of Ross Whiteley could only register another 26 runs as the home side slumped to 166-8. However, at that point Worcestershire inexplicably enjoyed their best spell of the game as loanee Luke Wood, ably supported by Dillon Pennington in just his second Championship game, put on 65 during an 84-run ninth-wicket partnership that saved the follow-on in style.

Evening: The happily wagging tail was sadly clipped shortly after tea as Worcs were bowled out for 257; a deficit of 80 that just about keeps the Pears in the match. From there, Somerset's mission was to make it through to close without losing a wicket, and frustratingly, despite good spells of pressure and a couple of half-chances, they succeeded.

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Day Three

Morning: It took an hour before the first breakthrough came, with Sam Byrom departing as the first of five scalps for Moeen. Trescothick and Hildreth followed soon after, but Worcestershire were only clinging on to the game.

Afternoon: Azhar Ali made hay in the sunshine, and all the home side could do was chip away with wickets at periodic intervals to remove his partners as the lead grew and grew.

Evening: After Azhar Ali finally skyed one to the keeper to complete a five-fer for Moeen, Somerset made their declaration on 362-9 with a lead of 442. All that was really required was to make it through the last fifteen overs of the day without incident, but that was too much to ask as Daryl Mitchell was dismissed LBW and Moeen fell with the last ball of the day. Worcestershire closed on 50-2 needing 393 to win, but the draw is the only realistic objective from here, and it'll be a harder slog than at Trent Bridge last time up. A minor miracle needed, yet again.

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Day Four

Morning: Any realistic hope of repeating our last-day heroics against Notts were thoroughly scuppered in a first session that saw the Pears, having resumed on 50-2, promptly collapse from 65-2 to 71-6.

Afternoon: Despite the best efforts of Ross Whiteley who added a quickfire 39, the visitors continued to take regular wickets, and by the stroke of two o'clock the Pears were 165-9 and looking at a defeat of nearly 300 runs. However, at that point Steve Magoffin joined debutant Alex Milton in the middle, and the two proceeded to occupy the crease for the next two and a half hours in a stand that lasted nearly forty overs and rewrote the history books. The record tenth-wicket partnership for Worcestershire in first-class cricket had, until today, been the 119 put on by William Burns and George Alfred Wilson against Somerset at New Road on 13th July 1906, but after standing for a hundred and twelve years and twelve days, Milton and Magoffin finally set a new best with an effortless 136; the county's first new partnership record in the first-class game for a decade. In the process, Milton made a classy and unbeaten century to boot, becoming only the second Englishman to do so for Worcestershire on his Championship debut after George Fiddian-Green in 1931.

Evening: Of course, all good things must eventually end with an ungainly slice to backward point, and that was precisely the demise of Magoffin and Worcestershire after a truly remarkable day's cricket.

Worcestershire LOSE by a hundred and forty-one runs

The Verdict: For the second Championship match in a row, Worcs made the utterly ludicrous decision to put the opposition in to bat first on a hot, sunny day, and unlike Notts, Somerset punished us. Perhaps we'd have made a pig's ear of it anyway, but we simply can't afford to shoot ourselves in the foot like this when we're already the underdogs in the division. Nevertheless, it was fantastic to see Milton and Magoffin make history on the final day even in a losing cause, and for Alex Milton in particular, there can be no better start to Championship cricket than to write your name in the county's history books, perhaps to remain there a century or more.

For Worcestershire, now on a three-game losing streak in all formats after an excellent eight-week spell over midsummer, we have to look to bounce back in the T20 Blast against Northants on Friday night.

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T20 Blast, Northern Group

vs Northamptonshire

Wantage Road, Northampton

Northants innings: As the latest heatwave stuttered to its conclusion with a few thundery showers around the country, the Pears won the toss and put Northants in to bat. After a tight opening two overs, the home side got motoring, and it required a crafty bit of bowling off Pat Brown to coax Ben Duckett into a skyer off the last ball of the powerplay, leaving Northants 54-1. The innings continued in the same pattern thereafter as the visitors chipped away with regular wickets, only to see the home side continuing to find the boundary. Moeen Ali had Richard Levi caught at backward point and Kyle Coetzer off a top-edge, while Dolly tempted Josh Cobb into holing out in the deep. Ed Barnard had two big scalps with Wakely caught and bowled and Crook caught behind, and Pat Brown finished with three wickets of his own, but the non-stop flow of runs meant that Northants concluded their twenty with a very handy total of 187-9.

Worcs innings: If there's one major criticism I routinely make of this Worcestershire white-ball side, it's that they seldom make things easy for themselves; however, tonight was a glorious exception. Despite some early good fortune with slightly streaky shots, from the moment that Joe Clarke picked up the first boundary of the innings off Rory Kleinveldt, there was no doubting the intent of the Pears batsmen. In his penultimate game for the county, Martin Guptill in particular was determined to make it a night to remember. After taking twenty-two off a single over from Richard Gleeson in the course of ushering Worcs to an astonishing 97-0 off the powerplay alone, the Kiwi completed his half-century in just 20 balls with successive sixes; the joint third-fastest half-century for a Pears batsmen in T20 after Ross Whiteley (18) and John Hastings (19), and alongside Gareth Andrew. And of course, the fun didn't stop there. After a bizarre reprieve that saw him score six off a clean catch by Seekkuge Prasanna that went pear-shaped when the Sri Lankan inadvertently stepped over the boundary rope, Guptill polished off his century in just 34 balls: the fastest by a Worcestershire batsman in T20, the second-fastest in the English domestic game, and the fourth-fastest worldwide. When he finally departed on 102 after skying one from Gleeson, he left the Pears 162-1 needing 26 more runs off 59 balls; an equation even Worcestershire would struggle to f**k up. After the second-highest partnership ever in Worcs T20 cricket - trailing only the 175 made by Hick and Solanki against Northants at Kidderminster in 2007 - the follow-up was always going to be a bit of an anti-climax, but when the moment came, Travis Head was enough of a showman to see things off with a final six, winning the game with a mere 41 balls remaining.

Worcestershire WIN by nine wickets

The Verdict: I'm not sure I've ever seen a run-chase like 188 knocked off in so much style anywhere in the world, let alone by Worcestershire. In a record-breaking week all round, this was a far happier outcome than the Championship result against Somerset. The trick now is to repeat the performance against Lancashire in Sunday's top-of-the-table clash. It'll be Guptill's last game for the Pears, and here's hoping he gives us a few more fireworks to remember him by.

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T20 Blast, Northern Group

vs Lancashire

New Road, Worcester

Alas, no last hurrah for Martin Guptill as for the second time in two years, the weather had the final say at New Road on a T20 match against Lancashire. The Kiwi's final knock will remain the scorching century on Friday night, and perhaps that's as it should be. Meanwhile, the Blast continues with ties against Durham and Notts next weekend.

Match ABANDONED

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T20 Blast, Northern Group

vs Durham

New Road, Worcester

Durham innings: Worcestershire won the toss and put Durham in to bat on a muggy and overcast August evening. After the departures of Guptill and Head, there was a welcome return for Callum Ferguson and a debut for Wayne Parnell in an unusually deep batting order for the Pears. However, it was the bowling attack to the fore in the afternoon heat, and it didn't cover itself in glory. The early wicket of Graham Clark to a short ball from Pat Brown and that of Liam Trevaskis to Parnell provided early hope, but Durham maintained a steady ten-an-over rate until the death when a quick clatter of wickets kept them to 194-7; a smaller total than it might have been, but still a formidable showing from a team on a five-match winning streak.

Worcs innings: For a full sixteen overs, it looked as though the Pears weren't interested in doing anything but pissing this away. Joe Clarke was caught behind for just 5, while Moeen and Dolly followed in quick succession to leave the home side 69-3. Ben Cox played his usual neat run-a-ball cameo for 16 before being caught behind off a half-arsed reverse sweep, and Callum Ferguson picked up exactly where he left off with a handy 39, only to hole out to a slog with more height than length on it. Those regular wickets left Worcestershire 122-5, needing 73 more runs from just 33 balls with only the lower-middle order and the tail remaining. There was, of course, nothing else for it but for Ross Whiteley to do a Ross Whiteley. With a dazzling parcel of boundaries, including four fours off one over by Nathan Rimmington, the pinch hitter steered the Pears to needing 37 off the last three overs. Ed Barnard got in on the act with a crucial six down the ground before ramping one straight into the hands of third man. 166-6: 29 needed off 13 balls, and a maximum over long-off from Whiteley off the very next delivery brought that equation down while also completing his half-century. The big man slogged a couple more big ones to whittle it down to 10 needed off the final over, only to perish by holing out at long-on off the first of those last six balls. Up stepped Wayne Parnell to find the boundary with a classical cover drive, bringing it down to 6 off 4. The South African supplied another two off the next ball, and with 4 now needed from 3 deliveries, it all ended with a brisk clip off the pads to the square leg boundary.

Worcestershire WIN by three wickets

The Verdict: A vital win in the context of the competition, propelling Worcestershire from 4th place back up into 1st and giving us some vital breathing space from the chasing pack. Irrespective of what happens in the coming fortnight, this is already Worcestershire's best T20 campaign since 2015, but a win at Trent Bridge tomorrow would give us one foot in the quarter-finals.