DAY 1
Ben Scott's maiden first-class hundred for Worcestershire was the highlight of the first day's play at Old Trafford as the County were bowled out for 291 in their first innings, with Lancashire, in reply, 13-0 at stumps.
Worcestershire won the toss and chose to bat, with Shaaiq Choudhry replacing Jack Shantry from the side that faced Durham, and after a delay of 30 minutes due to a wet outfield the visitors made a solid start as Daryl Mitchell and Phil Hughes had got to 40 in the 20th over until Mitchell (12) got a delivery that turned, from Simon Kerrigan, and the captain was caught by Tom Smith at second slip. Then, on the stroke of lunch, Hughes (32) was trapped lbw off Steven Croft, with the score on 56 in the 27th over.
Things got a lot worse for Worcestershire after lunch when Croft got the wickets of both Moeen Ali (2), caught by Paul Horton at first slip, and Vikram Solanki (15), who hit a cut straight to Ashwell Prince at backward point, and then Kerrigan dismissed both James Cameron (18), sweeping to Croft at leg slip, and Gareth Andrew, who played his first ball back to Croft at leg slip, off consecutive deliveries to leave Worcestershire in deep trouble at 93-6.
Matt Pardoe and Scott steadied the ship as, despite the prodigious turn, they batted on throughout the rest of the afternoon session, with Scott going to his 50 off 99 balls and the partnership reaching 100, and at tea the visitors were on 193-6. After tea Pardoe got to his 50 off 133 balls but the seventh wicket partnership was to end on 127 when Pardoe was run out for 55 off 140 balls, with 4 fours.
Choudhry (2) was the eighth wicket to fall when he was lbw to Glen Chapple, with the score on 255-8 in the 89th over, but Scott was not to be denied his first Championship 100 for Worcestershire as he reached it off 163 balls. Richard Jones (15) was lbw to Tom Smith and then Scott was the final man to be dismissed for an excellent 106 off 170 balls, with 11 fours, as Worcestershire were bowled out for 291 off 97.1 overs.
Lancashire had just over 10 minutes to survive and their openers Paul Horton and Stephen Moore did just that as they reached 13-0 off 4 overs at the close of play.
DAY 2
The spin duo of Moeen Ali and Shaaiq Choudhry dominated the second day at Old Trafford as Worcestershire bowled out Lancashire for 162 and, at stumps, were 9-0 in their second innings, a lead of 138 runs.
The start was delayed by 30 minutes due to rain but when play got underway there was a suspension, after 3 overs had been bowled in the day's play, due to a wet run up at the Pavilion End. 4 overs were lost from that delay but the Lancashire opening pair of Paul Horton and Stephen Moore went along nicely as they took the score to 61-0 after 16 overs. Then Ali broke the partnership as Moore (26) charged down the wicket and was caught at mid-on by Choudhry and 4 runs later Horton (34) was trapped lbw by Choudhry as Lancashire got to lunch on 68-2.
Then in the first over after lunch Ashwell Prince (1) edged a turning delivery from Ali to Ben Scott and then the home side collapsed from 86-3 to 119-9 as Karl Brown was stumped by Scott when trying to charge Choudhry, who then bowled Steven Croft (16), and after Ali took the wicket of Tom Smith (3), who swept to Richard Jones, he picked up three more wickets as Gareth Cross (16), Ajmal Shahzad (0) and Glen Chapple (5) were all caught by Matt Pardoe at short leg.
Kyle Hogg (21*) and Simon Kerrigan then resisted for the home side before the players went off for rain, with the score on 154-9. Tea was then taken and then, after tea, Choudhry took the final wicket as Kerrigan was bowled for 20 and Lancashire were all out for 162 off 61.2 overs, with Ali (6-67 off 28 overs) and Choudhry (4-38 off 20.2 overs) both ending up with first-class career best figures.
Worcestershire had a lead of 129 runs and Daryl Mitchell and Phil Hughes added 9 further runs in 3.2 overs before the rain returned just before 4:40pm and the umpires, George Sharp and Peter Willey, abandoned the day's play at 6pm.
DAY 3
Worcestershire secured their first LV= County Championship win of the season after a 205-run victory over Lancashire at Old Trafford.
Worcestershire began the day on 9-0 in their second innings, leading by 138 runs, and Daryl Mitchell and Phil Hughes moved the score along to 36 until Mitchell (23) was caught behind by Gareth Cross off Glen Chapple. Hughes (12) was out in the next over when he was caught by Tom Smith at short leg off Simon Kerrigan, who then had Moeen Ali (5) caught by Steven Croft at leg slip, and when Croft dismissed both James Cameron (2), caught by Ashwell Prince at second slip, and Matt Pardoe (1), who was adjudged lbw, Worcestershire were 69-5 in the 25th over, with a lead of 198 runs.
Vikram Solanki and Gareth Andrew then added 47 useful runs for the sixth wicket before Andrew, going for a big shot, was caught by Ajmal Shahzad at deep mid-off for 29 just before lunch, with the score on 118-6. Then after lunch Ben Scott (0) was caught by Croft off Kerrigan, Shaaiq Choudhry (6) was caught & bowled by Croft, Solanki was resolute in scoring 50 off 123 balls, with 4 fours, before he was lbw to Croft and when Alan Richardson (4) was caught by Karl Brown off Croft Worcestershire were all out for 139 off 50.2 overs.
Lancashire required 269 runs to win but were immediately under pressure when Richardson trapped Paul Horton (0) lbw with the second ball of the innings and he then took his second wicket when Stephen Moore (9) was caught by Andrew at gully, with the score on 13. In the next over Ali came onto the attack and with his third ball had Brown (0) caught by Solanki at leg slip and he made further inroads by taking three more wickets before tea as Croft (8), Prince (1) and Smith (3) were all caught behind by Scott to leave Lancashire in the mire at 33-6.
The home side reached tea on 42-6 and then in the evening session Ali went on to take his fifth wicket of the innings when Cross (20) was caught by Richardson at deep mid-on. Choudhry took two wickets in an over as Chapple (9) was caught by Mitchell at first slip and Shahzad (0) was stumped by Scott and when Ali took the final wicket, when Scott stumped Kyle Hogg (6), Lancashire were bowled out for just 63 off 31.1 overs to complete a remarkable victory for Worcestershire.
Richardson took 2-7, Choudhry ended up with 2-16, with match figures of 6-54, but it was Ali's career-best 6-29, with match figures of 12-96, that stood out amongst the Worcestershire bowlers.
