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| Worcestershire CCC v Northants CCC |
LV= County Championship
Thursday 29th July - Sunday 1st August, at New Road |
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| Articles & Reports |
Match Report
Day 1:
Worcestershire named an unchanged side for the Championship match against Northamptonshire at New Road with overseas player Shakib Al Hasan making his home debut.
Vikram Solanki won the toss for the home side and elected to bat first in overcast conditions which meant a tough opening session for the Worcestershire openers Daryl Mitchell and Dave Wheeldon.
By lunch Worcestershire had reached 55-1, with the only wicket falling that of Mitchell caught in the gully by James Middlebrook off the bowling of Elton Chigumbura for 23. Mitchell and Wheeldon batted well in testing conditions with the Northants bowlers making good use of the conditions might count themselves unlucky to pick up only one wicket in the first session. Chigumbura took 1-15 in 8 overs and David Lucas 0-14 also in 8 overs in the morning session.
After lunch batting conditions became a bit easier and Worcestershire looked to up the run rate but were pegged back by a double strike from David Lucas who claimed two wickets in one over; Solanki for 17 and Moeen Ali for 0.
Alexei Kervezee scored a quick fire 28 before being bowled by James Middlebrook for 28. Once again another wicket fell soon after, this time Dave Wheeldon was unlucky to inside edge the ball onto his stumps after a very patient innings of 50 lasting 150 deliveries.
At 159-7 by tea things did not look good for the home side. However some determined batting lower down the order turned the game around. Ben Cox scored 59 in 86 deliveries, hitting 8 boundaries along the way. Then came Matt Mason coming in at number 10 and blasting an unbeaten 51* in just 33 deliveries to allow Worcestershire to reach 287 all out after a 10th wicket stand of 54 with Alan Richardson which meant that in total Worcestershire had added 129 runs for the last 3 wickets. David Lucas took 4-68, picking up the final wicket with the new ball.
With only 6 overs left in the day Matt Mason was once again in the action having the in-form Stephen Peters caught for 0 in the first over of the Northants innings. By the close of play Northants were 3-1.
Close of play Day 1: Northamptonshire (3-1) trail Worcestershire (287) by 284 runs with 9 first innings wickets remaining.
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Day 2:
Seventeen wickets fell on the second day of the Championship match at New Road against Northamptonshire to leave the match in an interesting position, with both sides hoping to push for victory on the 3rd day.
Matt Mason and Alan Richardson opened the bowling on the 2nd day and made most of a unpredictable pitch.
The first wicket of the day to fall was that of night watchman James Middlebrook, caught at the wicket by Ben Cox for 2 off the bowling of Alan Richardson. A sharp piece of fielding by Richard Jones helped to run out Ben Howgego for 8 and with David Sales being caught the very next ball the visitors were in trouble on 16-4.
Rob Newton, making his First Class debut made a 5th wicket stand of 40 with Alex Wakely before Wakely was caught at 1st slip by Vikram Solanki off the bowling of James Cameron for 20. The same combination saw Newton dismissed for 23 as Northamptonshire reached 74-6 by lunch.
After lunch Andrew Hall made 28 before a mix up with his partner saw him being run out by Richardson. The last two Northamptonshire batsmen did manage to add 60 valuable runs to save the follow on helped by a couple of dropped catches and occasional wayward bowling at times with David Murphy making 26 and David Lucas 24.
Alan Richardson picked up the final two wickets to finish with figures of 3-28 in 20.4 overs as Northamptonshire were dismissed for 158 with Matt Mason finishing with figures of 3-34 in 20 overs. James Cameron picked up his maiden First Class wickets finishing with figures of 2-18.
However after tea Lee Daggett produced a fine opening spell with figures of 4-25 in ten overs as the Worcestershire batsman struggled in their second innings. Alexei Kervezee top scored with 24 before he gloved a catch off a fast rising ball to the keeper off the bowling of Andrew Hall. James Middlebrook also helped to keep the pressure on Worcestershire with 2-11 from 7 overs.
When bad light and light rain meant close of play was called with the loss of 8 overs Worcestershire were 72-8, an overall lead of 201.
Close of play Day 2: Worcestershire (287 & 72-8) lead Northamptonshire (158) by 201 runs with 2 second innings wickets remaining.
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Day 3:
It took Northamptonshire less than six overs at the start of the third day at New Road to take the remaining two Worcestershire second innings wickets. The home side were bowled out for a disappointing 93 with only two batsmen making double figures. This left Northants requiring 223 to win on a pitch which up to this point was unpredictable.
Worcestershire made an early break through with Ben Howgego being run out by Richard Jones with the score on 9. However ex-Worcestershire player Stephen Peters and Alex Wakely batted with determination and looked at ease against the Worcestershire bowlers. Peters made 37 before being caught at 2nd slip by Daryl Mitchell off the bowling of Alan Richardson.
This brought David Sales to the wicket who compiled a 4th wicket stand of 73 with Wakely which gave the visitors the perfect platform to push for victory. By lunch Northants were on 78-2. After lunch Sales and Wakely stepped up the scoring, with both batsmen looking very confident at the wicket. Sales was eventually out LBW for 46 off the bowling of Matt Mason with the score on 127-3.
Wakely and debutant Rob Newton eased Northants towards the victory figure with a 4th wicket stand of 69 with the pitch apparently not offering any assistance to the bowlers as it had in previous sessions, combined with some confident batting by Northants, especially by the youngsters Newton and Wakely.
Alex Wakely was eventually caught at forward short leg by Alexei Kervezee for 68 off the bowling of a probably under-used James Cameron with the score on 196-4.
There then followed another two quick wickets including yet another run out for Richard Jones that briefly raised hopes of a unexpected upset. It was the fourth run out that Northants had suffered, with the same two batsmen on all occasions and Jones accounting for three of the dismissals.
Northants reached tea on 218-6, just 5 runs short of victory which they achieved in the second over after tea.
Match results: Northamptonshire (158 & 226-6) beat Worcestershire (287 & 93) by 4 wickets.
Northamptonshire 19pts. Worcestershire 5pts.
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Alternative articles and match reports on Worcestershire County Cricket Club maybe found on the links below.
ECB LV = County Championship Reports
Worcester News
The Telegraph
The Times
The Guardian
The Independent
Test Match Special
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