[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

vs Leicestershire

County Championship, Division Two

New Road, Worcester

Day One: Leicestershire won the toss and elected to bat on a glorious early autumn day.  The Pears had a dream start when they reduced the Foxes to 25-3 within fourteen overs, but as the day wore on it became increasingly apparent that this was a bad toss to have lost. Mark Cosgrove led the recovery until he was dismissed by Ed Barnard, but Neil Dexter took up the baton on his way to a century. The visitors finished the day on 325-7, undoubtedly the happier of the two sides.

Day Two: The Pears bowlers couldn't keep the Foxes from claiming maximum batting points, but did eventually manage to bring their first innings to a close at 404. In reply, Mitchell and Dolly put together a solid opening partnership of 119 to give Worcestershire a solid platform, with the latter eventually chalking up another fine century. A few soft dismissals kept the visitors in the match, but in his first outing as a nightwatchman Josh Tongue did well to guide the Pears safely through to close of play on 270-4, clear of the follow-on and trailing by 134 runs.

Day Three: A day that's probably decided the result of the match, and may well have decided the outcome of Worcestershire's season in the process. Though Dolly went early in the day for 138, the ever-impressive Ben Cox kept things ticking over for the remainder of the innings, making 77 as the Pears finished up 493 all out with a lead of 89 runs midway through the afternoon session. But in an astonishing spell with the new ball before tea, Joe Leach and Josh Tongue went like a steam train through the Foxes top order, reducing the visitors to 10-4 in the space of just twenty-seven balls. Though Leicestershire managed a minor recovery, three more wickets fell before close of play - including the dangerous Dexter - to leave them 111-7 overnight, with a lead of just 22 runs. From looking like a nailed-on draw, this match is now tantalisingly close to a maximum-points Pears victory which would put Sussex and Kent out of contention for promotion, and even slightly extend the lead over Northants. Just three more quick wickets needed in the morning, and a smart bit of batting to knock off whatever total the visitors set. Surely, *surely* even Worcestershire can't blow it from here?

Day Four: All credit to the Foxes, they made a fight of it in the end. The eighth-wicket partnership added over a century to the overnight score, and it was gone midday before young Pat Brown made the crucial breakthrough. Disappointingly for the visitors, having dragged the lead up to three figures they couldn't set a seriously tough target for Worcestershire, as the last two wickets went quickly and cheaply. Nevertheless, in a fourth innings of two hours, Leicestershire did manage to take four Pears wickets before Ravi Ashwin hit the winning runs and secured twenty-four precious points. Kent and Sussex are now mathematically adrift of the men from New Road, and Northants can only keep their slender hopes of pipping us if they beat Notts next week. Fail to do so, and Worcestershire will once again be a Division One side.

Worcestershire WIN by six wickets

Star Performer: There were few all-round great performances over the full four days, but ultimately there's no doubting that an innings of 138 from Brett D'Oliveira on Wednesday went a long, long way to swinging this match in Worcestershire's favour.

Next Match: After a fortnight's break, the next match of the season will be the last. What began on Good Friday will come to a conclusion with the Pears welcoming Durham to New Road, hoping to see themselves into Division One in style.