worcestershire’s interim captain brett d’oliveira and paceman charlie morris both struck a double blow after lancashire were set a mammoth 602 target in the specsavers county championship clash at New Road.
d’oliveira introduced himself into the attack after lancashire openers keaton jennings and alex davies had posed a century partnership.
the spinner struck in his second over when davies (64) made room for an attempted cut shot and was trapped lbw.
then he made another breakthrough as haseeb hameed on 20 offered no shot and was also leg before.
d’oliveira also had jennings dropped at slip in his first over with the england opener on exactly 50.
he went onto complete a 166 ball century with 20 boundaries.
the impressive morris then had west indies shivnarine chanderpaul (28) caught behind by ben cox at 252-3.
he picked up a second scalp with rob jones (10) prodding forward and also falling to the cox-morris combination.
it was his fifth wicket of the game and reward for morris’s perseverance.
jennings ended the day unbeaten on 135 out of 269-4 with the second new ball due after three overs tomorrow morning.
earlier cox had smashed 58 not out from 45 balls with three sixes and five fours before d’oliveira called a halt to worcestershire’s second innings at 484-7.
the home side had resumed on 361-4 and added 123 runs in 17 overs for the loss of three wickets before the declaration.
tom bailey struck two early blows as he bowled joe clarke (10) and trapped d’oliveira (22) lbw.
ross whiteley hit a quickfire 23 before he lofted jordan clark into the hands of bailey at wide mid off.
but cox continued the form he had demonstrated in the royal london one-day cup, twice hitting bailey over the mid wicket boundary and repeating the shot against clark.
he completed his second fifty in championship cricket this season before the declaration 40 minutes before lunch.
*saturday admission – adult ticket prices will remain at £16 and juniors £5.
