TROPHY

Worcestershire achieved their second win in the 2nd XI 40-Over Trophy with a six wicket win against Derbyshire at the County Ground, Derby.

On a glorious day Worcestershire won the toss and chose to field but it looked to be a bad decision when Chesney Hughes (66) and Matthew Lineker (47) put on 106 for the opening wicket in 18.4 overs.  Once the openers were dismissed wickets fell at regular intervals and Derbyshire were indebted to their captain Garry Park (56) as the hosts eventually reached 221-7 off their 40 overs.

Nick Harrison (2-30 off 8 overs) and Aneesh Kapil (2-47 off 6 overs) were the joint leading wicket-takers for Worcestershire with the other bowlers being Brett D'Oliveira (1-30 off 7 overs), Tom Friend (1-33 off 6 overs), Shaaiq Choudhry (1-38 off 8 overs) and Joe Leach (0-37 off 5 overs).

Worcestershire's reply saw them lose two wickets in the first six overs as Jack Manuel was caught for 15 and Alexei Kervezee edged behind for 10 to leave the visitors on 44-2.  Ben Scott and captain Neil Pinner then put on 91 for the third wicket in 21 overs, as Scott reached his 50 off 76 balls, until Pinner was lbw for 42 off 59 balls.  Scott was then joined by Leach as their fourth wicket partnership added a further 51 runs until Leach was caught in the deep for 32 and then Kapil (15*) and Scott took Worcestershire to victory, with an over to spare, as Scott ended unbeaten on 96, off 116 balls, with 8 fours.

CHAMPIONSHIP DAY 1

On another glorious day at Derby Worcestershire ended Day 1 on 77-1 in reply to Derbyshire's 299.

Derbyshire won the toss and chose to bat first and Matthew Lineker and Chesney Hughes once again made a good start as they put on 110 for the first wicket before Hughes was dismissed for 36.  At lunch the home side were on 128-1 and in the afternoon session Lineker went on to get his century off 146 balls as Derbyshire looked in command on 268-3 after 68 overs.

But then Brett D'Oliveira took two quick wickets before tea, with the score on 277-5, and then got the wicket of Lineker, with the first ball after tea, for 145 off 193 balls.  D'Oliveira then took four more wickets to end up with excellent figures of 7-46 off 18.4 overs as the home side collapsed to 299 all out in 82.4 overs.  Triallist Adam Shepherd (1-39 off 7 overs), Shaaiq Choudhry (1-47 off 17 overs) and Chris Russell (1-50 off 12 overs) were the other wicket-takers for Worcestershire.

In reply Worcestershire lost the wicket of Matt Pardoe, who was lbw for 7, but Jack Manuel look a liking to the Derbyshire bowling attack as he got to his 50 off 59 balls and at the close Worcestershire had reached 77-1 off 19 overs, with Manuel on 55 and Alexei Kervezee on 11.

DAY 2

Worcestershire took control, after the second day of their Championship match against Derbyshire, by declaring on 505-7 in their first innings and reducing the home side to 15-1 in their second innings at the close of play.

Beginning on 77-1 Worcestershire soon lost Jack Manuel for 55, with the score on 83, but then Alexei Kervezee and captain Neil Pinner added 136 for the third wicket in 28 overs until Pinner was bowled for 40.  Kervezee went to his century off 111 balls and, after Joe Leach was run out for 22, Kervezee was the fifth wicket to fall when on 317, he was caught behind for 156 off 199 balls, with 18 fours and 2 sixes.  Then Shaaiq Choudhry and Brett D'Oliveira put on 116 for the sixth wicket in 27 overs, as the visitors seized the initiative during the afternoon session, until D'Oliveira was adjudged lbw for 70, with the score on 433.   Ben Cox made a quickfire 27 off 17 balls when he was caught behind, with the score on 468-7, but Choudhry got to his century off 145 balls, as Worcestershire declared on 505-7 in the 117th over.

Derbyshire then had 25 minutes to survive but Chris Russell clean bowled Matthew Lineker for 6, with the last ball of the day, as the home side closed the day with a deficit of 191 runs.

DAY 3

Worcestershire won their Second XI Championship match against Derbyshire by 9 wickets at the County Ground, Derby.

Resuming on 15-1 Chris Russell got the wicket of captain Garry Park, with the fourth ball of the day, when he was caught behind by Ben Cox for 8, with the score on 23.  Then a further three wickets fell in the morning session, including Chesney Hughes for 42, as Derbyshire went to lunch on 159-5, trailing by 47 runs.

Despite a resilient innings from Chris Durham (53*), which saved Derbyshire from a innings defeat, Russell cleaned up the tail to end up with 5-46 off 13.3 overs as the home side were all out for 219 in 62.3 overs.  The other wicket-takers for Worcestershire were Brett D'Oliveira (2-49 off 18 overs), Nick Harrison (1-23 off 7 overs), Shaaiq Choudhry (1-27 off 12 overs) and Tom Friend (1-17 off 4 overs).

Worcestershire required 14 runs to win and despite losing the wicket of Matt Pardoe, who was lbw for 0, Jack Manuel (13*) and Alexei Kervezee (2*) secured the win in the 3rd over as Worcestershire came away, from their first Championship win in 2012, with a maximum of 24 points.