Zain Ul-Hassan and triallist Tristan Blackledge produced a superb rearguard action to earn Worcestershire Seconds a draw from their Championship match with Lancashire Seconds at Barnt Green.
Skipper Ollie Westbury had scored a century for the second Championship match running after the home side were set a 326 target by the Red Rose county.
After reaching 163-3, the loss of six wickets for 36 runs looked to have handed victory to Lancashire.
But Ul-Hassan and Blackledge joined forces after 66.2 overs and survived for 22.4 overs and defied all that Lancashire could throw at them.
Their efforts earned Worcestershire an additional five points to go with seven bonus points – four for bowling and three for batting.
Ul-Hassan ended on 34 not out from 79 balls and last man Blackledge held out for 62 deliveries for his seven not out.
Worcestershire eventually closed on 246-9 from 89 overs.
Lancashire had resumed on 340-2 in their second innings and added 46 in five overs for the loss of two wickets – both of them falling to another triallist in Tom Sturgess – before declaring at 386-5.
Century-maker Rob Jones (106) was caught at mid on and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (10) holed out to deep square leg.
Worcestershire lost two early wickets in reply with Jack Haynes (4) chipping the ball to silly mid on and Joe Barrett leg before.
Westbury, who had scored 127 against MCC Young Cricketers at High Wycombe, and first innings century-maker Josh Dell (39) added 88 in 24 overs before the latter was caught and bowled.
Keeper Alex Milton (19) featured in a partnership of 52 with Westbury before he was caught behind and then wickets fell at regular intervals.
Westbury was seventh out at 191, his 104 from 190 balls containing 14 boundaries. But then came the Ul-Hassan-Blackledge rescue act
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LANCASHIRE SECONDS – SECOND INNINGS CONTINUED
(overnight 340-2)
Jones c Westbury b Sturgess 106
Lamb not out 70
Chanderpaul c Haynes b Sturgess 10
Bohannon not out 6
Extras 16
Total (for 4 wickets declared) 386 in 88 overs
FOW continued: 344, 375
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BOWLING
Thornton 18-4-58-0
Sturgess 19-2-78-3
Twohig 27-2-130-0
Oxley 6-0-27-0
Blackledge 5-1-19-0
Ul-Hassan 3-0-15-0
Malik 7-1-36-1
Westbury 3-0-14-0
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WORCESTERSHIRE SECONDS – SECOND INNINGS
Westbury lbw Morley 104
Haynes c Jones b Hurt 4
Barrett lbw Lester 0
Dell c and b Hameed 39
Milton c Yates b Lester 19
Malik c Yates b Lester 0
Twohig b Hurt 5
Oxley c Yates b Morley 16
Ul-Hassan not out 34
Sturgess c Yates b Hurt 1
Blackledge not out 7
Total (for 9 wickets) 246 in 89 overs
FOW: 18, 23, 111, 163, 163, 175, 191, 198, 199
—
BOWLING
Lester 16-4-25-3
Hurt 14-4-40-3
Bohannon 8-5-11-0
Lamb 9-1-42-0
Morley 21-3-62-2
Balderson 4-1-16-0
Hameed 10-4-21-1
Lawson 5-2-14-0
Jones 2-1-4-0
