[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

vs Durham

County Championship, Division Two

The Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street

Day One: The Pears put Durham in to bat on a grey afternoon in the north-east, and pink-ball carnage ensued.  The Durham top order couldn't cope with the swinging, seaming lavender orb as the Worcestershire bowling attack pelted it at them through the early overs, and as a result the home side were reduced to 18-5 within ten overs, with international superstar Ben Stokes the biggest scalp, gone for a particularly ignominious duck.  From there things grew a little easier for those at the crease, and though Durham were still wobbling at 64-7, a tail-end recovery took them to 197 all out by the end of the second session.  The new ball caused a few problems for Worcestershire too, and when Daryl Mitchell was dismissed for just 6 early doors, skipper Joe Leach took the unusual approach of promoting himself and John Hastings up the order to pile on a few swift runs in exchange for the seemingly inevitable fall of wickets.  It worked: at 59-3 the score wasn't ideal, but the new ball was seen off and Joe Clarke was able to come in and contribute a handy 45 before leaving Dolly and Moeen at the crease to see out the day till stumps; the former on 91 overnight, the latter on 36.  At close of play Worcestershire are 213-4, leading Durham by 16 runs; a commanding position for the visitors, whose worst enemy in the coming days will now be the weather.  The forecast is awful for the remainder of the week, and unless the Pears can somehow wrap this one up sharpish between the bouts of rain tomorrow, we'll be slowly dribbling our way to a draw.

Day Two: Sterling work by the groundsmen enabled play to begin on time, and Worcestershire made the most of the clear weather with Dolly completing his ton and Moeen his half-century before both were dismissed by Pringle, the former for 122, the latter for 58.  The Pears continued to tick over nicely for the ensuing hours until Durham finally bowled them out for 367, giving the visitors a handy first-innings lead of 170.  Sadly, at that point the rains arrived and refused to let up, forcing the umpires to call an end to the day's play with no final session.  The forecast for the next two days remains dire, and though Worcestershire have undoubtedly gained a moral victory with this lead, the wrath of the rain gods means that it's unlikely to translate into an actual victory.

Day Three: No play possible due to rain.  Frustrating, but unsurprising.

Day Four: And that's that.  The umpires wasted no time on Thursday deciding that the outfield was too waterlogged to give us any chance of further play, and the draw was settled on.  The Pears take twelve points, Durham eight.

Match DRAWN

Star Performer: A century from Dolly through Monday and Tuesday helped the Pears to a few bonus points from the draw, and fully warrants a nod.  A huge shame that the weather kept us from pressing home that advantage and turning it into what would almost certainly have been a win.

Next Match: With the Championship season now over half-complete, we commence the somewhat belated 2017 T20 campaign next Friday night playing host to the Bears.