Jack Shantry was delighted to reach the 50 wicket mark in LV = County Championship cricket for the first time after his deadly five wicket burst brought Worcestershire back into contention against Surrey at New Road.
The left armer finished with 6-87 from 28.1 overs after a spell of 5-15 in 30 balls after tea restricted Surrey's first innings advantage to 134.
He joins Saeed Ajmal (63) in passing the half century mark in the Championship and Charlie Morris is only two short of the milestone.
Shantry, who also returned 6-53 against Surrey at the Kia Oval in June, said: "To get to 50 wickets for the first time, I'm very pleased.
"To get there with a game to go, I'm very happy with that.
"I've had a couple of six-fors against Surrey. It is nice to do it against one of the so called bigger teams.
"I just plugged away, bowled it in the right areas and the ball started swinging later on and luckily they nicked it.
"The pitch was quite flat today. The ball did quite a lot yesterday morning but, as the day went on, it got flatter and today it was a good batting pitch.
"We could have hung in there a bit better in the morning session but we came back well. The ball swung all day so as long as the ball is swinging, you have a chance as a bowler.
"It turned our way after lunch and then after tea again."
Shantry believes Worcestershire can still force a victory if they bat well on the third day.
They will resume on 12-0 from six overs – 122 in arrears.
Shantry said: "At 130 behind, we are just still in the game. If they had got 200 ahead our chances of winning would have gone completely.
"But now we've got Richard Oliver and Daryl Mitchell, two of the best openers in the division, and Rich can take a game away from you in a session.
"We've got a really good chance tomorrow as long as we bat well.
"The pitch tends to get slower and lower. Yesterday was the best day to bowl on it and we couldn't quite get through that morning session which has put us on the back foot.
"Tomorrow will be a good day to bat and then day four with the pitch going up and down and the footmarks…so if we can give ourselves 200-300 to bowl at, we will back ourselves from there."
