[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

County Championship, Division One

vs Lancashire

Day One

Morning: Lancashire put the Pears in to bat on an overcast morning at New Road, and the home side wasted no time in picking up the Championship campaign exactly where they left off; namely, with a batting collapse. Overseas opener Martin Guptill, making his Pears debut, was the first casualty after facing just eight balls; Tom Fell followed suit by chopping on after a couple of boundaries. Though Daryl Mitchell put together the beginnings of a partnership with Joe Clarke, it didn't last for long as the latter was bowled by Joe Mennie a little after noon. By the time Dolly had come and gone LBW and Ben Cox had nicked his first ball behind for a golden duck, Worcestershire were 81-5 and in big, big trouble.

Afternoon: Resuming on 84-5, the afternoon session belonged in every respect to Daryl Mitchell, who dug in at the crease to pull Worcestershire up to a respectable score. Partners came and went, with Ed Barnard bowled for a decent 21 and white-ball power hitter Ross Whiteley, playing his first Championship game for a year, dismissed by a Jordan Clark yorker for a quickfire 32 made entirely from boundaries; these fruitful stands propelled Worcs up over 200, but Mitch was the undisputed star of the show, completing the 32nd first-class century of his career before being the last man to go with 118. The Pears were all out for 247; not the most imposing of scores, but one that any Worcestershire supporter would have taken at lunch.

Evening: For the longest time, it really felt like deja vu for a weakened Worcs bowling attack. Keaton Jennings and Alex Davies weathered the new ball without offering a single chance to the home side, and for ninety minutes of the evening session the two Lancs openers piled runs on the board with effortless ease. At 77-0 a moment of inspiration was needed, and it duly came from debutant Martin Guptill who took a full-length diving catch at midwicket to dismiss Davies off the bowling of Charlie Morris. At that point it still felt like Lancashire's session and day overall, but as we entered the last half-hour of play, The Ed Barnard Show began. The young all-rounder first took a simple caught-and-bowled chance to remove nightwatchman Stephen Parry, before claiming the scalp of Haseeb Hameed who attempted a leave and lost his off-stump. The very next ball saw Shiv Chanderpaul caught at cover point, and though the hat-trick went begging, Barnard still had time to dismiss Rob Jones LBW with the very last ball of the day. The visitors had gone from 77-0 to 86-5, with no less than four batsmen going for ducks in that spell of play. Honours even on a remarkable day, though momentum perhaps with Worcestershire; the wicket of Keaton Jennings is now the key one to get in the morning, because if Lancs are to rebuild their innings as Worcs did then the opener will be the architect of that recovery.