DAY 1

Worcestershire had a reasonably good day after the first day’s play of the LV= County Championship match against Nottinghamshire at New Road by bowling out the visitors for 243 and, in reply, Worcestershire are 5-0 at stumps.

Worcestershire made one change from the previous match against Surrey, with Aneesh Kapil replacing Shaaiq Choudhry, and under grey skies, Worcestershire won the toss and inserted Nottinghamshire into bat but Alex Hales and Neil Edwards were untroubled in the morning session before the players went off for rain after 12:30pm, with the score on 69 in the 23rd over.

An early lunch was taken and play resumed at 1:20pm and in the second over after lunch Alan Richardson got the breakthrough when Edwards was caught low down by James Cameron, who dived to his right at short mid-wicket, for 23. Hales had got to 49 before he edged to Daryl Mitchell at second slip off Richard Jones, with the score on 82-2. Michael Lumb was the third wicket to fall when he chopped on to the stumps off Cameron for 17 and Samit Patel was brilliantly caught by a diving Michael Klinger at backward point for 26 to leave the visitors on 137-4.

James Taylor and Chris Read survived the rest of the afternoon session and then they built on their fifth-wicket partnership, after tea, by putting on 56 until Kapil got the wicket of Taylor, who chased a wide delivery and was caught behind by Ben Scott, for 38. Kapil, in his next over, got Read to cut a wide ball to Klinger at backward point, who dived and caught the ball at the second attempt, for 34 and when Ben Phillips edged to Mitchell at second slip for 2 it completed a remarkable spell by Kapil of 3-2 in four overs and the visitors, from being 193-4, were on 202-7.

Steve Mullaney and Andre Adams, who hit a 6 over the New Road stand, attacked, once the new ball was taken, until Adams holed out to Alexei Kervezee at deep mid-wicket for 21, off Jones, who then mopped up the tail by uprooting Fletcher’s off-stump for 0 and dismissing Mullaney, who was caught by Kervezee at deep mid-wicket, for 24. Jones ended up being the leading wicket-taker, with 4-76 off 20.1 overs, Kapil finished up with excellent figures of 3-17 off 9 overs, Richardson was economical, with figures of 2-23 off 22 overs, and Cameron was the fourth wicket-taker, with figures of 1-19 off 8 overs.

Mitchell and Klinger survived the five remaining overs in the day and they will both aim to build a good platform for Worcestershire on the second day.

DAY 2

Worcestershire faces an uphill task, after a rain affected second day, as they ended the day on 72-6 in response to Nottinghamshire’s 243.

After a lengthy delay due to rain the second day’s play got underway at 2.40pm, under grey skies, and Daryl Mitchell and Michael Klinger had taken the total to 35 before Andre Adams got the breakthrough for the visitors when Klinger edged to Samit Patel at second slip for 22.

Ben Phillips bowled tidily and his reward came when Vikram Solanki was trapped lbw for 1. A further four lbw appeals went Nottinghamshire’s way as Adams got the wickets of Mitchell (24), Alexei Kervezee (0) and Moeen Ali (11) and when Harry Gurney had dismissed Ben Scott for 1 Worcestershire had reached 66-6 at tea.

After tea James Cameron and Aneesh Kapil had taken the total to 72 but then, after five deliveries in the evening session, umpires Nick Cook and Michael Gough took the players off for bad light, as the light had deteriorated, and over an hour later at 6pm, with the light no better than when the players went off, the umpires abandoned play for the day.

DAY 3

Nottinghamshire ended the third day on 88-2, in their second innings, with a lead of 174 runs.

Proceedings got underway at 11:30am, due to rain earlier in the morning, with James Cameron and Aneesh Kapil getting the 22 runs required, which prevented Worcestershire from following-on. Their seventh-wicket partnership had reached 39 when Cameron edged behind to Chris Read, off Harry Gurney, for 25. David Lucas was lbw to Andre Adams for 2, with the score on 111 but Kapil and Richard Jones remained at the crease at lunch, with Worcestershire on 120-8.

After lunch Kapil drove the first ball over extra cover for four, off Adams, but two balls later Adams got his revenge by trapping Kapil lbw for 41 off 91 balls, including 4 fours. Jones smacked a couple of fours and a six before he was caught by Adams, at third man, off Gurney for 21 and Worcestershire were all out for 157, trailing by 86 runs.

Jones then got the early breakthrough in Nottinghamshire’s second innings when Alex Hales clipped straight to Cameron at square leg for 12 but Neil Edwards and Michael Lumb guided the visitors to 56-1 at tea. In the evening session Lumb was trapped lbw off Lucas for 16 and Edwards pulled Jones for six, to take Edwards to 49, but the light was deteriorating and there were three stoppages for bad light before the umpires abandoned the day’s play just before 6pm.

DAY 4

With heavy rain falling over New Road and the forecast looking bleak for most of the day the match was abandoned as a draw early on the fourth day. Worcestershire's next Championship match will be against Middlesex at Lord's next Thursday.

WORCESTERSHIRE (157) DREW WITH NOTTINGHAMSHIRE (243 & 88-2)