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Day Two

Morning: Friday brought spells of sunshine and spells of grey, as did the action. Things got off to the best possible start as the sixth delivery of the day brought Joe Leach the wicket of Tom Alsop LBW for 13, having had a shout denied off the previous ball. In the following over, Ben Gibbon produced an absolute corker of a length-ball on off-stump that seamed away a fraction, taking Ali Orr's edge and dismissing him caught behind for 34. But that brought the dreaded Smith/Pujara partnership to fruition, and it flourished for above an hour until a generous LBW decision on a ball above the knee and angling down leg gave Josh Tongue the huge scalp of Steve Smith for 30; a decision prompting much ridicule on social media, but in truth a deserved reward for the young man, who'd bowled well and beaten both edges of Smith's bat with the previous two deliveries. James Coles came out with plenty of intent, but a wild swing at an over-the-wicket Gibbon delivery that straightened off the seam saw him inside-edge behind for 14, and a positive four-wicket session concluded with Sussex 158-5 at lunch.

Afternoon: The visitors rebuilt during a rain-interrupted afternoon, and though Matthew Waite coaxed some swing from the ball to beat a slightly awkward push and bowl Oli Carter for 23, it was to be the only wicket of a long and thankless session as Sussex took the lead, going in to tea 271-6.

Evening: With death-and-taxes inevitability, Pujara brought up another effortless century with support from Fynn Hudson-Prentice, whose own fifty came shortly before he played forward to a Waite delivery that pinned him plumb LBW for 53. Ollie Robinson did some quickfire slogging until he holed out for 33 to Leach, and with the lead already into three figures, it was a small mercy that the innings was mopped up quickly; Tongue banged one in with a bit of extra pace and bounce to have Pujara caught behind for 136, and seven balls later Leach trapped Henry Crocombe LBW for 1, leaving Sussex 373 all out with a lead of 109. Facing Ollie Robinson in fading light during a testing nineteen-over period, it was probably somewhat fortunate that Jake Libby was the only casualty to the England man in the final stages, edging the ball to the sixth man in the expansive slip cordon for 5. Ed Pollock and Azhar Ali survived to reach stumps on 34-1, trailing by 75, but Pears fans can be forgiven for hoping that the forecast Coronation Day flood keeps this match on ice until Sunday.

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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.

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Over the last couple of years I've done my best, Pears schedule and other commitments permitting, to keep an eye on Central Sparks in the women's game, as well as the female Worcester Rapids, and will have a crack at making space on this thread for occasional observations.  Having lost Sarah Glenn but gained Katie George and Chloe Brewer over the winter, it's been mixed fortunes for the Sparks in the opening fortnight, losing to the (East Midlands) Blaze in a trip to Trent Bridge after a magnificent bowling spell from Lucy Higham took the game away, but bouncing back for a win against Northern Diamonds at New Road courtesy of a four-fer from Georgia Davis and a half-century from skipper Eve Jones. A sub-par score despite a fighting fifty from Ami Campbell led to a May Day defeat against Southern Vipers at picturesque Wormsley, but Saturday's journey to Old Trafford was an enormously entertaining clash with a thrilling climax. In the first innings, Aussie debutant Erin Burns brought her international class to bear with four quickfire wickets to tear the heart out of the Thunder middle order, before Sophie Ecclestone peppered the boundary in a typically imperious display to lift the hosts up to a defendable total. A couple of wickets and a rain delay in the reply brought a seemingly harsh DLS adjustment of five fewer overs and just ten fewer runs, and though Eve Jones supplied another half-century to the cause, a middle-order subsidence left the Sparks needing above a run a ball in the last five overs with wickets dwindling. Nine down and needing 12 off 12 balls, then 8 from the final over, it fell to number eleven Grace Potts and 16-year-old Davina Perrin to scramble the single off the final delivery that levelled the scores and secured a tie.

For the Rapids it's been one frustration after another, as the wet spring has washed out every fixture so far. With T20 finals day due to take place next weekend and the last of the group games confirmed to be abandoned, it remains to be seen how the ECB will proceed with the group table in total stalemate.

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As Karen Carpenter might have said (had she been noted for following county cricket), rainy Mays and Mondays always get me down. Thankfully Thursday is on its way, and with it the promise of a weekend with a little sustained sunshine, if not wholly precipitation-free. Not that this is necessarily good news for Worcestershire, for whom the Norse rain god Freyr is currently shaping up to be player of the season, but sooner or later we've got to get back in the swing of playing four days and showing up on each of them. We'll be trying our luck with that this week at Sophia Gardens.

The only side in the division to have drawn all four of their matches so far, Glamorgan remain well-placed to begin a promotion charge if they can get across the line with a win. They were frustrated at Headingley last week after navigating themselves into a dominant position, aided by a daddy hundred from Marnus Labuschagne - his seventh for the county in four summers as their overseas man - and he'll be the man for the Pears to get out quickly if we're to have a chance. An unchanged squad will be travelling to Wales for this one, with Dillon Pennington accompanying them but remaining sidelined by a hamstring injury. With some signs of form from Azhar Ali and Adam Hose on Sunday, here's hoping we don't find ourselves fighting a rearguard action for the third game in a row.


Probable Worcestershire XI: Libby, Pollock, Ali, Haynes, D'Oliveira, Hose, Roderick, Waite, Leach, Tongue, Gibbon

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County Championship, Division Two

vs Glamorgan

Sophia Gardens, Cardiff

Day One

Morning: Glamorgan won the toss and put the Pears in to bat on a cloudy Thursday with moisture in the pitch. It was, before long, a catastrophe for Worcestershire as the new ball dismissed Taylor Cornall LBW for 6, Ed Pollock caught at first slip for 10, Jack Haynes snaffled at third slip for a duck in the same over, Azhar Ali grabbed at second slip for 8, Brett D'Oliveira LBW for a duck and Adam Hose bowled for a duck by a loosener he chopped on to his stumps, leaving Worcs 34-6. Even a brief rebuild left the Pears 66-6 at lunch; the number of the beast somewhat appropriate for a hellish session.

Afternoon: The first over after resumption saw Matthew Waite bowled for 22 by a Michael Neser inswinger, and though the eighth-wicket partnership carried the Pears into three figures, Joe Leach was caught down the leg-side for 16, Gareth Roderick edged to second slip for 39, and Adam Finch departed LBW for a golden duck to wrap up the innings in the blink of an eye and leave Worcs all out for 109. Leach struck early in the reply to have Eddie Byrom caught behind for a duck, and again on the stroke of tea to bowl David Lloyd for 48, but the rest of the attack spent the afternoon bowling pies and allowing the hosts to race to 92-2.

Evening: With the deficit almost wiped out in less than a session, our bowlers finally woke up to the fact that they were competing in a real live match. Bowling a better line and length after tea, Waite nipped an absolute snorter in off a length to zip through the gate and remove the off-stump of Marnus Labuschagne for 42, spurring Finch on to an excellent spell in which he dismissed Sam Northeast LBW for 9, saw Kiran Carlson off in the same fashion for 13 and clipped the off-stump of Chris Cooke for a duck. But there was no budging Billy Root and Michael Neser as Glamorgan closed on 177-6 with a lead of 68; once again, lax play by the Pears leaves them requiring fireworks just to keep a toehold in a game.

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Day Two

Morning: Wickets fell, but not quite quickly or cheaply enough to give Worcestershire much hope. Despite an early breakthrough from Adam Finch, having Billy Root caught at second slip for 28, Michael Neser continued to successfully shepherd the tail and put runs on the board. Brett D'Oliveira eventually had Timm Van Der Gugten caught behind for 19, Finch completed his maiden first-class five-fer when James Harris went the same way, and Joe Leach had Neser caught at point for 86 to wrap things up, but all out for 258 with a lead of 149, the damage was very much done.

Afternoon: And with grinding predictability, the Pears folded once more. Ed Pollock edged Van Der Gugten behind for 9 and Taylor Cornall was LBW to the same bowler for 4. After a flurry of boundaries, Jack Haynes also went LBW to Jamie McIlroy for 14, and though Adam Hose did a job moving the scoreboard on quickly, he chopped on for the second time in the match for 35. There was still, incredibly, enough time in the session for Dolly to be caught behind for 2 and Azhar Ali to be LBW for 34 before the interval came with Worcestershire 123-6, still trailing by 26 runs and in serious danger of falling to a two-day innings defeat.

Evening: Comparatively speaking, the seventh-wicket partnership worked wonders for Worcs, wiping out the deficit after tea and keeping things quiet until Gareth Roderick chopped on from Marnus Labuschagne for 39, but Matthew Waite and Leach stayed together until bad light forced an early close on 195-7, with a slender lead of 46. Frankly, the only chance we have from here will lie with a wagging tail putting on another seventy-odd runs and then making the new ball talk; anything less will spell out a deserved defeat.

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Though the Pears surrendered pathetically in South Wales this week, Central Sparks showed considerably more spine on Wednesday's trip to Hove to face Southern Vipers.  With Amy Jones returning to the side and Chloe Brewer dropping out, the Sparks won the toss and elected to bowl in warm south coast sunshine. Disciplined bowling and a tight field kept boundaries to a minimum in the early stages, costing the Vipers a couple of wickets as they were forced to swing and innovate in search of runs. For the second game in a row, the introduction of Erin Burns in the middle overs bulldozed the opposition as five consecutive batters fell for just 39 runs, including the big scalp of Charlie Dean and an acrobatic caught-and-bowled which saw the Australian launch herself at full stretch to her left to grab an aerial hit towards long-off from Emily Windsor. Five-fer under the belt, the innings could have slipped away to a wagging tail as it did in Manchester, but three wickets from Georgia Davis - continuing her good start to the season after penning a full-time deal in the winter - mopped things up professionally and left the Sparks chasing 181 to win. There was no keeping up with the Joneses in the reply, as Eve and Amy broke the back of the chase with the former contributing her third half-century of the campaign before departing for 73. Abbey Freeborn supplied a useful 28, but fittingly, Burns was the one to loft the winning boundary over extra cover. The Sparks are back in action at Chelmsford on Thursday with the start of the Charlotte Edwards (T20) Cup.

Disappointment for the Rapids, on the other hand, whose first match of a rain-hampered season was the T20 semi-final today at Leek. Making a stiff 133 with the bat, Warwickshire then kept things tight during the chase to frustrate the Rapids and then bowl them out with the final ball.

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County Championship, Division Two

vs Leicestershire

New Road, Worcester

Day One

Morning: Worcestershire won the toss and put Leicestershire in to bat on a bright if somewhat windy Thursday, and on a pitch with only a slight tinge of green, it seemed ominously like a decision prompted by fear of going out in the middle. In the early stages it looked like it might backfire as Foxes opener Sol Budinger scored above a run a ball, but when he edged Joe Leach to first slip for 20, it opened the door for the Pears to justify the choice to bowl. Rishi Patel top-edged an Adam Finch bouncer to the keeper for 22, while an over of full, swinging deliveries from Matthew Waite dismissed Lewis Hill LBW for 14 off the first, and Peter Handscomb in the same fashion for a five-ball duck off the last. With the score 83-4 at lunch, Worcs could claim a good morning's work.

Afternoon: Picking up where they left off, Leach had Wiaan Mulder caught for a duck with a blinding goalie's catch from the skipper at backward point, before Waite had Rehan Ahmed pouched at first slip for 7. 94-6 became 117-7 when Tom Scriven attacked a short ball from Finch and was caught in the deep for 12, but having frustrated the Pears in similar fashion this time last year, Chris Wright once again proved a thorn in the side as he built a half-century partnership with Colin Ackermann. Nevertheless, when the end came it was swift; Leach claimed his third scalp as Wright was adjudged LBW for 30, and though Ackermann completed his fifty, a scything stroke outside off-stump caused him to chop on for 52 against Ben Gibbon, who duly made it two in three balls when he pinned Will Davis LBW for a duck. 173 all out at tea, it felt like a job well done, and there was scarcely a hint of the nasty twists that lay in store.

Evening: The reply was only five balls old when a lifting, seaming delivery from Wright had Azhar Ali caught behind for a duck, and from there things went hellward very quickly. Somerset loanee Josh Davey rapped the pad of Gareth Roderick to see him off for a duck, and despite some spirited counter-attacking from Ed Pollock, the ball continued to jag, swing and explode off a length; Wright kept it firmly in the corridor, and Jack Haynes edged to slip for 6 a few overs later, immediately followed by Adam Hose for a golden duck with an identical dismissal. And so it continued, Brett D'Oliveira caught behind off Davey for 6, Pollock holing out to Wright for a vital 30, Waite caught at midwicket for a duck off Davey, Finch dismissed LBW by Wright for 1, and Leach caught at cover for 4. With the score 50-9, we were firmly in the territory of the record books for the county's worst-ever completed innings, and in the end it was only a few battling boundaries from our final pair of Gibbon and one-game Somerset cameo man Jack Brooks that lifted it up to 83 all out in 21.1 overs; by a narrow margin, merely our fourth-lowest innings of the 21st century. And there was time for the humiliation to get worse, as the tired bowlers watched the Leics openers rattle along at six an over against the new ball until Brooks had Budinger caught at deep square leg for 29, and Leach had Patel caught behind for the same score. Bad light forced an early close with Leicestershire 66-2, leading by 156 after a first day that saw an astonishing twenty-two wickets fall.

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Day Two

Morning: A cloudy Friday with rain in the air and pitchforks at the ready following Thursday's catastrophe. There was, however, some fight from the bowlers as Joe Leach got right into the action, having nightwatchman Josh Davey caught at first slip for 2 and his fellow nocturnal guard Will Davis LBW for 12. Now on a roll and extracting plenty of bounce and movement from the pitch, the big man claimed an all-important fourth when Colin Ackermann edged to first slip for 1, but with recognised batsmen still to come, the Foxes rebuilt and reached lunch on 148-5, leading by an already-daunting 238.

Afternoon: A lengthy rain break worked wonders for the Pears, as Matthew Waite got a ball to nip back in and bowl Lewis Hill for 49. It proved to be a warm-up for a magnificent over which saw the Yorkshireman bundle out Peter Handscomb for 26 after the Aussie's swipe to leg resulted in a leading edge to mid-off, then have Wiaan Mulder caught at second slip when the ball reared up off a length, and Tom Scriven gone for a golden duck in the same fashion to a slightly fuller ball that moved away. That triple-wicket bonanza put the brakes on what had looked certain to be a 300+ score for the visitors, and when Rehan Ahmed tried to go T20 on Leach in an effort to claw back the momentum, it led only to a five-fer for the former skipper as Ahmed nearly swung himself off his feet and gifted a stumping to the keeper. 180 all out at tea, that revival in Worcestershire's fortunes nevertheless meant that the target was 271 on a perilous seamer's pitch.

Evening: And predictably, the openers weren't up to it. In the circumstances, with caution and intelligence required, it could hardly have been more galling to see both Azhar Ali and Ed Pollock get caught playing across the line against the new ball, leaving the Pears 2-2. It took a titanic effort and a little help from the weather for Jack Haynes and Gareth Roderick to see the hosts through to the close without further damage, finishing on 26-2 with 245 still required.

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Day Three

Morning: Saturday heralded arguably the first weekend of summer, with temperatures high and heavenly, but at first the going seemed no easier for Worcestershire, who added only ten runs before Jack Haynes was somewhat harshly adjudged LBW to Josh Davey for 22. But new man Adam Hose, recognising that the scoreboard needed shifting, wasted no time in lifting a wickedly swinging straight ball off Chris Wright down the ground for four before pulling Davey for six en route to a 66-ball half-century. Despite one bit of luck for Gareth Roderick, who edged over the slips to the boundary, no further wickets fell in the session, and the Pears went to lunch 128-3; almost half the runs knocked off, yet the ball still misbehaving enough to hint that Leicestershire remained overall favourites.

Afternoon: Sure enough, a bright start to the afternoon brought nearly 40 runs off a dozen overs as Hose found the boundary with pleasing regularity, but there had to be a ball with his name on it, and it came on 84 from Wiaan Mulder, taking the edge to be caught behind. Shortly after, with the target reduced to two figures, Rodders shaped to cut a short wide ball only to be startled by extra bounce, edging a dolly to first slip that went into the fielder's hands and straight back out; his half-century came up two balls later. But the runs were drying up as the Foxes turned the screw, and it came as no surprise when, shortly before four o'clock, Rodders ended his five-hour watch on 59 by edging Mulder to second slip. Yet the incoming Matthew Waite made a clear statement of intent when he greeted his second delivery with a languid straight drive for four, and with the score 201-5 at tea, the stage was set for a stellar last couple of hours.

Evening: 70 runs left to make, the last two recognised batsmen in the middle, the second new ball available, and a long tail watching on from the pavilion, padded knees all a-jitter. Whatever the bigwigs do with the County Championship in years to come - whatever new formats they cook up, and whatever bells and whistles they hang on them - they can find no adequate substitute for a scene like that under a westering May sun. Waite continued in fine form against the new nut, finding the boundary with a delicate caress to third man and clipping off the pads through square leg, but with the target down to 43 he was rapped on the front pad by Mulder and dismissed LBW for 22. The South African was suddenly firing on all cylinders, and new man Joe Leach never looked settled; he supplied just 4 before he too departed plumb LBW with 31 still required. All credit, then, to Adam Finch for resembling some grizzled old Test opener as he got the bat firmly behind every straight delivery from Mulder and Wright, and left those outside off - even the ones that nipped back to graze the stumps - with scarcely a backward glance or a bout of anxious gardening. Off the mark with a boundary from his third ball, reaching out to swipe a wide ball past point, the tail-ender was fully trusted by skipper Brett D'Oliveira (who'd calmly shepherded the innings through the last three hours) to tire out the two frontline bowlers, with Leicestershire giving up on making changes in the circumstances. And though the stand lasted an unbearably tense three-quarters of an hour, when the end came it was swift. Finchy, flashing hard outside off, edged one over the slips for four to bring the target down to 15; a couple of doubles later, he squirted one from Mulder through long leg for another, and it was down to 7. A dispirited Chris Wright took the next over, and Dolly picked up another two before levelling the scores with a lovely late cut, then finished things off by cutting the third ball to the point boundary. From 83 all out to victors in the space of forty-eight hours; quite simply, one of the finest comebacks I've seen a Worcestershire side make.

Worcestershire WIN by three wickets

The Verdict: The disastrous decline that the Pears suffered after the declaration at Durham on the second weekend of the season was very real, and reached its awful nadir on Thursday evening. Yet somehow, in the middle of a match against an opposition unbeaten all season, on a surface where no one had any business getting above 200 runs, whatever rot has been plaguing the side was chiselled out in a remarkably resilient showing. All credit to the anchoring from Rodders, the counter-attacking from Hose, the cool head of Dolly and the unflappability of Finchy at the death; and of course, there were sterling efforts with the ball from Leachy and Matty Waite, who continues to be the best replacement for Ed Barnard we could reasonably have hoped for. I only hope the momentum of this win will stand us in good stead as the Blast now begins.