Worcestershire Seconds fought back strongly on day two of the Championship match with their Lancashire counterparts at Northern CC in Liverpool.
The Seconds restricted the home side to a first innings lead of 64 after taking the final six wickets today and bowling Lancashire out for 303.
Then half centuries from George Rhodes and Alex Hepburn followed by a century partnership between Ross Whiteley and Josh Dell – only ended off the final ball of the day – lifted Worcestershire to 253-5 by the close – a lead of 189.
Whiteley ended unbeaten on 60 from 114 balls with one six and eight fours and he could have a key role to play on the final day if Worcestershire are to set a challenging target.
Lancashire resumed on 176-4 and moved onto 213-4 before losing two wickets on that total.
Pat Brown bowled Brooke Guest (10) and then Luke Procter, who made 103 off 154 balls with 11 fours, fell to Alex Hepburn.
Lancashire were only three runs ahead when they lost their eighth wicket but Danny Lamb (49 not out) and the tail extended the final total past the 300 mark.
Debutant Matthew Wareing finished with three wickets while Brown, Hepburn and Twohig picked up two apiece.
Worcestershire made a disastrous start to their second innings as Ollie Westbury and Alexei Kervezee both departed in the space of three ball for nought to Toby Lester – caught behind and lbw respectively.
Skipper Rhodes and Hepburn then started the revival from 8-2 with a partnership of 130 before both fell in successive overs.
Hepburn, having made 68 off 87 balls with nine fours, was caught behind off Procter and then Rhodes, whose 58 off 80 deliveries contained six boundaries, was leg before to Arron Lilley at 140-4.
Whiteley and Dell joined forces and another determined century partnership followed.
The half century for Whiteley came up via two fours and a single in the same over from Saqib Mahmood and a straight drive for four by Dell off Lilley completed the hundred stand.
But then Dell, having made 44 from 103 balls with six fours, was lbw to the final ball of the day from Rob Jones.
Lancashire Seconds – first innings continued
(overnight 176-4)
KR Brown c B Twohig b M Wearing 27
C Turner c †A Milton b P Brown 3
LA Procter c G Rhodes b A Hepburn 103
RP Jones lbw b M Wearing 1
JJ Bohannon c A Hepburn b B Twohig 63
BD Guest b P Brown 10
DJ Lamb not out 49
AM Lilley c O Westbury b A Hepburn 10
TJ Lester c †A Milton b M Wearing 5
M Parkinson lbw b B Twohig 5
L Hurt b G Rhodes 11
Extras 16
Total (all out) 303 in 86.0 overs
FOW continued: 213, 213, 231, 242, 277, 303
Bowling
P Brown 18-1-76-2
A Hepburn 16-3-56-2
M Wareing 14-1-48-3
G Rhodes 8-1-27-1
R Whiteley 6-0-17-0
B Twohig 16-1-41-2
Z Malik 8-0-25-0
—–
Worcestershire Seconds – second innings
G Rhodes lbw b AM Lilley 58
O Westbury c †BD Guest b TJ Lester 0
A Kervezee lbw b TJ Lester 0
A Hepburn c †BD Guest b LA Procter 68
R Whiteley not out 60
J Dell lbw Jones 44
Extras 23
Total (for 5 wickets) 253 in 63.3 overs
FOW: 8, 8, 138, 140, 253
Bowling
S Mahmood 9-3-30-0
TJ Lester 5-0-34-2
L Hurt 9-2-30-0
DJ Lamb 4-0-30-0
M Parkinson 8-0-53-0
AM Lilley 18-3-48-1
LA Procter 10-4-16-1
RP Jones 0.3-0-1-1
