Worcestershire Seconds ended in a strong position after the opening day of their Championship match with MCC Young Cricketers at Barnt Green – thanks to a five wicket haul from Alex Hepburn and an unbeaten century from Tom Fell.
Hepburn and his new ball partner Alex Wilkinson – making his first Seconds appearance of the season – were responsible for bowling out MCC YC for 235 in 53.3 overs.
The Australian all-rounder finished with 5-77 from 21.3 overs and his victims included two of the MCC's leading run-scorers in Fynn Hudson-Prentice (68) and Finn Allen (47).
Wilkinson dismissed opener Ben Curran, who had top-scored with 86 in the Trophy clash between the sides the previous day, before cleaning up the lower order.
But it was skipper George Rhodes who accounted for Tom Smith who had struck 79 off 66 balls with one six and 14 fours.
MCC YC reached 176-4 at one stage but then lost three wickets for three runs.
The Seconds did not make the best of starts to their reply with Rhodes and Westbury, who have both in recent good form with centuries, dismissed for nine and one respectively.
But Fell and Alexei Kervezee shared an unbroken stand of 148 to take coach Kevin Sharp's side to 205-2 by the close.
Fell had reverted to playing for the Seconds after appearing in the opening two Specsavers County Championship and four Royal London One-Day Cup matches of the campaign.
He ended unbeaten on 117 from 134 balls with 18 boundaries while Kervezee finished on 55 not out from 94 deliveries.
MCC Young Cricketers – first innings
Ben Curran c GH Rhodes b AR Wilkinson 4
Safwaan Imtiaz b A Hepburn 0
Finn Allen c AN Kervezee b A Hepburn 47
Marc Lezar b A Hepburn 15
Tom Smith c BJ Twohig b GH Rhodes 79
Fynn Hudson-Prentice c AR Wilkinson b A Hepburn 68
Liam Hurt lbw b AR Wilkinson 0
Ben Brookes b AR Wilkinson 1
Liam Jones c JMH Dodd b AR Wilkinson 3
Oliver Smithson b A Hepburn 5
Praven Sivarajah not out 11
Extras 2
Total (all out) 235 in 53.3 overs
FOW: 4, 4, 40, 95, 176, 177, 179, 191, 220, 235
Bowling
Alex Wilkinson 13-1-53-4
Alex Hepburn 21.3-5-77-5
Alexei Kervezee 5-0-38-0
Patrick Brown 7-1-44-0
George Rhodes 5-1-20-1
Ben Twohig 2-0-3-0
—–
Worcestershire Seconds – first innings
George Rhodes b BL Brookes 9
Oliver Westbury lbw b LJ Hurt 1
Tom Fell not out 117
Alexei Kervezee not out 55
Extras 23
Total (for 2 wickets) 205 in 48 overs
FOW: 17, 57
Bowling
Liam Hurt 9-0-37-1
Sam Grant 8-1-25-0
Ben Brookes 7-0-23-1
Oliver Smithson 6-2-15-0
Fynn Hudson-Prentice 6-1-19-0
Praven Sivarajah 7-0-32-0
Liam Jones 3-0-36-0
Tom Smith 2-0-17-0
