DAY 1

Worcestershire had a reasonable first day as they ended on 270-3 against Somerset in their LV= County Championship match at New Road.

Captain Daryl Mitchell won the toss and chose to bat, with Phillip Hughes making his Championship debut, and they both endured a tough examination from the Somerset bowlers through most of the morning session. Despite some edgy boundaries and plays and misses Mitchell and Hughes came through unscathed as they went to lunch, with the score on 77-0 after 32 overs.

Despite a sharp shower during the lunch break the afternoon session began on time, with Hughes going to his 50 off 101 balls, and the opening partnership reached 100 runs until Hughes edged behind to Craig Kieswetter off Peter Trego for 53 off 111 balls, with 5 fours. Mitchell then reached his 50 off 162 balls as, along with Vikram Solanki, they pushed the score to 163-1 off 64 overs at tea.

In the evening session Mitchell and Solanki took the score to 180 but then Mitchell edged an attempted cut shot to Kieswetter off Arul Suppiah for 80 off 225 balls, with 10 fours. Moeen Ali then struck 14 runs in Suppiah's next over before Solanki got to his 50 off 104 balls as Worcestershire took the score to 237-2 after 81 overs. The third wicket partnership then ended on 57 as Ali was trapped lbw for 20 off Trego, with the new ball, and then Solanki and James Cameron saw out the remaining overs as the home side ended the day on 270-3, with Solanki unbeaten on 82 off 159 balls, with 9 fours and 1 six, and Cameron unbeaten on 14.

DAY 2

On a rain-affected second day at New Road Somerset, in their first innings, were on 27-2 in reply to Worcestershire’s 340.

Worcestershire started the day on 270-3, with Vikram Solanki playing some glorious shots as he went to his hundred off 180 balls, with 13 fours and 1 six. Along with James Cameron the fourth wicket partnership had reached 65 before Cameron was caught by Peter Trego at second slip off Alfonso Thomas for 19, with the score on 302. Then in the next over Solanki was bowled by Trego for 106 off 193 balls, with 14 fours and 1 six, and Somerset were to make further inroads in the morning session as Trego trapped Pardoe lbw for 5, Ben Scott was lbw to Jamie Overton for 1 and when David Lucas was bowled off his pads off Trego for 0 Worcestershire had collapsed to 311-8.

Gareth Andrew was the ninth wicket to fall when, attemping to hit over the top, he edged to James Hildreth at first slip off George Dockrell for 6, with the score on 324, and then Richard Jones and Jack Shantry (10*) put on 16 for the last wicket until Jones was caught behind by Craig Kieswetter off Craig Overton for 12, on the stroke of lunch, as Worcestershire were all out for 340.

After lunch Somerset’s reply had reached 11 when Lucas got the breakthrough when he got Alex Barrow to edge behind to Scott for 10. Arul Suppiah became the next victim when he clipped straight to Pardoe at square-leg off Jones for 1 and then all eyes were on Nick Compton as he needed 59 runs to become the 9th man in English first-class cricket to get to 1000 first-class runs by the end of May. Somerset had got to 22-2 after 14 overs, with Compton on 9 and James Hildreth on 5, when the players went off for rain at 2:35pm and frustratingly for Compton, who was stuck on 950 first-class runs, there was no further play as continuous light rain meant that the umpires, Martin Bodenham and Trevor Jesty, abandoned the day’s play at 5:30pm, with Somerset trailing Worcestershire by 313 runs.

DAY 3

On a truncated third day at New Road Somerset ended the day on 277-7, in their first innings, and trail Worcestershire by 63 runs.

The start was delayed for 35 minutes due to rain and when play got underway, with the score on 22-2, Nick Compton and James Hildreth looked untroubled as they dominated the morning session by taking the visitors score to 86-2 after 32 overs. But then Jack Shantry struck twice just before lunch as he trapped Hildreth lbw for 52 off 76 balls, with 9 fours, and then, next ball, got Craig Kieswetter to edge behind to Ben Scott for 0. At lunch Somerset were on 89-4 and then Compton and Jos Buttler took control in the afternoon session as Compton got to 1,000 first-class runs for the season, when he reached 59, with a single to third man. Buttler also went to his 50 as Somerset went to tea on 224-4.

After tea the fifth wicket partnership had reached 167 when Buttler lofted an on-drive and was caught by Matt Pardoe at the deep mid-wicket boundary for 85 off 130 balls, with 14 fours and 1 six, with the score on 253. Compton then went to his hundred off 217 balls before the new ball was taken and Shantry made an immediate impact as Trego was caught by Pardoe at extra cover for 7. Compton was then dismissed by Shantry in his next over as he got a ball to nip away and was bowled for 108 off 226 balls, with 13 fours. Four balls later the umpires, Martin Bodenham and Trevor Jesty, took the players off for bad light at 5:15pm and an hour later play was abandoned for the day.

DAY 4

Worcestershire drew their LV= County Championship match against Somerset at New Road as the weather once again intervened on the fourth and final day.

Somerset resumed their first innings on 277-7 and, with the third ball of the day, lost their eighth wicket when Craig Overton mistimed a pull from Jack Shantry and was caught by Richard Jones at mid-on for 5. Alfonso Thomas tamely drove to Jones at mid-on, off David Lucas, for 6 and then Jamie Overton edged a Jones delivery to Vikram Solanki for 12 as Somerset were bowled out for 298. Shantry was the pick of the Worcestershire bowlers, with excellent figures of 5-58 off 28 overs, with Jones (2-56 off 13.1 overs), Lucas (2-74 off 26 overs) and Moeen Ali (1-52 off 15 overs) taking the other 5 wickets.

Worcestershire led by 42 runs and had increased their lead to 71 as Daryl Mitchell and Phillip Hughes survived the first 8 overs despite Mitchell being dropped in the first ball of the innings. Hughes then swept George Dockrell for 6 over deep mid-wicket but with the next ball he wasn't as successful with the sweep shot and top-edged to Craig Kieswetter for 22, with the score on 35. Solanki was the next wicket to fall when he was bowled by an inswinger from Peter Trego for 7 and at lunch Worcestershire were on 52-2, with a lead of 94 runs.

After lunch the home side had moved on to 60 when Mitchell edged to Alex Barrow at short-leg off Dockrell for 16 and then, four balls later, Dockrell got James Cameron to edge to James Hildreth at first slip for 0. A few minutes later, just after 2pm, the players went off for bad light, with the score on 60-4, and an early tea was taken at 3:10pm.

Play then resumed at 3:30pm, with the loss of 18 overs, and Ali and Matt Pardoe took the total onto 123 but their fifth wicket partnership of 63 was broken by the spin of Kieswetter who bowled Pardoe for 28. Scott was run out for 0 and Andrew was trapped lbw off Kieswetter for 0 but at 4:50pm the teams shook hands and the match was drawn, with Ali unbeaten on 47, as Worcestershire ended on 129-7 declared off 49 overs.

WORCESTERSHIRE (340 & 129-7d) DREW WITH SOMERSET (298)