[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

vs Nottinghamshire

County Championship, Division Two

Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Day One: Pears put Notts in to bat on a wretched day all over the country.  The morning session was entirely lost to the weather, but when the ball finally got rolling in the afternoon Worcestershire were treated to a great start with Steven Mullaney being bowled by Joe Leach.  However, despite a green pitch and thick cloud overhead, the Pears bowlers toiled a little after that, perhaps guilty of trying a bit too hard in a vital match; it took a further rain stoppage for our attack to regroup, and when at last the players returned to the middle, it was the Ed Barnard Show for the remainder of the session. The young seamer bulldozed through the Notts top order, claiming the scalps of Libby, Pujara, Patel and Wessels as the home side crashed from 79-1 to 127-6. Though Notts recovered a little with the seventh-wicket partnership, young Josh Tongue made a vital couple of breakthroughs after tea to set them reeling again and Barnard got in on the act once more with a run-out before the rain returned to curtail the fun. Notts 188-9 at close of play and wondering what hit them. With Northants merking Sussex at Wantage Road, this has been Worcestershire's day in every respect, and now the onus is on the Pears to polish off that last wicket in the morning and produce an innings worthy of Division One in what are forecast to be better, brighter conditions. Of course, Worcester being Worcester, it won't be anywhere near that easy; but why not enjoy the ride?

Day Two: What a ding-dong day it's been. The last Notts wicket fell quickly to Joe Leach, leaving the home side 193 all out from the first innings, and when the Pears openers put on a few dozen for no loss all looked fine and dandy on Planet Worcestershire.  But when facing quality bowlers a batting collapse is never far away, and the visitors found themselves in an alarming position at 89-6, on the verge of throwing yesterday's work down the drain. It took a solid partnership from man of the hour Ed Barnard and the highly impressive Ben Cox to drag the Pears out of that particular hole on their way to a 50-run lead after being bowled out for 243. The pendulum swung still further in Worcestershire's favour when Joe Leach and Josh Tongue went like a steam train through the Notts top order, taking four wickets before the home side had even reached parity, but opener Jake Libby and Riki Wessels did a good rebuilding job, and though the latter was dismissed in the penultimate over of the day, a position of 138-5 with a lead of 88 at close of play leaves the match very finely poised. Libby remains unbeaten at the crease and there's batting still to come for Notts, so tomorrow morning's session may prove decisive. Worcestershire need to find the magic touch to get the home side out with less than a 175 lead if possible; once they get past 200 every single run will take the win further and further from our grasp. The forecast is clear till 4pm. It's going to be a nailbiter.

Day Three: This see-saw match just goes on and on. The day started well for the Pears with Jake Libby falling to Ed Barnard without adding to his overnight tally, but Worcestershire hearts sank from there as Brendan Taylor, Brett Hutton and Jake Ball pushed the lead past 175, past 200 and then up to an eventual 226 to win.  On a difficult pitch it looked a daunting total, but a good opening stand between Daryl Mitchell and George Rhodes got the Pears off to a solid start which Tom Fell, after a slow beginning and a few minor scares, added to. By close of play Worcestershire had battled to 123-2, and require just 103 more runs to chalk up a win which is looking more and more necessary as Sussex drag themselves back into contention at Northants. Mitchell remains unbeaten overnight on 63, and the Pears really, really need him to stay there and add to that score tomorrow, to take pressure off the lower order. Worcestershire go into final day in a strong position, but they'll be facing the division's best bowling attack refreshed and regrouped, and are horridly prone to sudden collapses. On paper there should be enough clear weather tomorrow to get a result one way or the other. Come on you Pears: we need this.

Day Four: After three days of this topsy-turvy match with all of its many twists and turns, my only hope this morning was that Daryl Mitchell and Joe Clarke could stick together at the crease for long enough to halve the deficit and make life easier for the middle order. But as it happened, they'd set their own sights a bit higher. Scoring at just under a run a ball, with another fine century from Mitchell as he became the second batsman of the season to reach a thousand Championship runs, the Pears knocked off the necessary 103 in under ninety minutes to record their first Championship victory at Trent Bridge since 2000, inflict Nottinghamshire's first defeat of the season, and do it all at an absolute canter. A Northants win against Sussex to boot leaves Worcestershire in pole position for promotion, and one more victory next week may just seal Division One cricket for the Pears in 2018.

Worcestershire WIN by eight wickets

Star Performer: While Ed Barnard continued to mature with yet another influential performance, there's no doubting for a minute how different this match might have panned out but for the assured batting of Daryl Mitchell. To be second only to Kumar Sangakkara in reaching a thousand runs for the summer is no mean feat.

Next Match: The Pears welcome winless Leicestershire to New Road next Tuesday in the hope that promotion can be wrapped up double-quick.