[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Day Four

Morning: Despite the new ball there was no breakthrough for over an hour on Saturday morning, and as Jennings and Vilas knocked off runs with gusto, it was squeaky bum time at New Road. An audible sigh of relief greeted the inswinger from Ed Barnard that removed Vilas a little after noon, but still Keaton the Unbeaten laboured away to keep fears of a humiliation alive until the very stroke of lunch, when young Pat Brown - going from strength to strength this year - got a full-length ball to keep low and beat the bat of Jennings as he attempted a back-foot defensive, striking the base of off-stump and leaving the visitors 360-6 at the session's end.

Afternoon: For an hour after the break, Danny Lamb and Jordan Clark put up admirable resistance and kept the scoreboard ticking over for Lancashire, but when the end finally arrived it came quickly. Only one run was scored for the last four wickets as the dangerous Clark was caught behind for the first dismissal off the bowling of Ross Whiteley in fully three years; with the door wide open, Ed Barnard was happy to oblige in mopping up the tail, finishing the match only one wicket short of what would have been his second 10w haul of the season. Truth be told, Lancashire made a creditable fist of a world record run chase, and had Worcs declared on 500 then we might have seen a very different game unfold as the visitors chipped away at the target and the cushion slowly eroded. However, the Pears managed the game perfectly, and the result is all the sweeter for the nine-month wait.

Worcestershire WIN by two hundred and two runs

The Verdict: You can't go too far wrong when there's a D'Oliveira captaining Worcestershire, and sure enough, young Dolly got his first spell as skipper off to a dream start this week. A first Championship win of the season is the perfect tonic to our One-Day Cup exit, and it's very much deserved after performances that deserved better outcomes against Surrey and Essex in May. Whether it'll make a blind bit of difference to our ultimate fate, only time will tell, but logic suggests that only another eight victories in this vein will repair the damage of an abysmal spring and enable an unlikely survival story.

For the time being, Dolly and the lads have to take it game by game, starting with a tough day/night clash at Trent Bridge this coming week.