[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

County Championship, Division Two

vs Durham

Day One

Morning: Durham won the toss and elected to bat on a warm, sunny May morning with summer in the air. It may have been a mistake, with the new ball wreaking havoc as Charlie Morris got Alex Lees to chop onto his stumps for a duck before the newly-returned Joe Leach had Cameron Steel caught at first slip for 5 and pinned Gareth Harte LBW for 1, leaving the visitors 15-3 within half an hour. However, skipper Cameron Bancroft and Jack Burnham succeeded in steadying the ship and taking Durham into lunch on 77-3.

Afternoon: With two set batsmen at the crease, Durham put their foot on their pedal after the interval, and it took over an hour of the afternoon before Cameron Bancroft tried to work a full delivery from Josh Tongue onto the legside and was adjudged LBW for 70. With the door open, Jack Burnham then nicked Morris behind for 76 in the very next over, and Leach added to his already impressive return by clean bowling Liam Trevaskis for 5, giving the Pears another foothold in the game and sending the visitors in for tea on 194-6.

Evening: Ben Raine and Ned Eckersley frustrated Worcestershire by seeing out the old ball, and it was gone quarter past five when Morris got back to work with the new ball, removing Raine caught at second slip for 42, Eckersley caught behind for 22 in his next over, Matt Salisbury caught at second slip for 8 and Matthew Potts gone the same way - all good catching practice for Daryl Mitchell - to complete a six-wicket haul on top of his career best seven-fer at Leicester last month. With Durham all out for 273, the Pears only needed to see out two overs after six o'clock, but Mitch couldn't follow up his sterling efforts at slip with the bat, and departing LBW for a duck to Chris Rushworth left Worcestershire 1-1 at the close of play.

It all feels very tight now, with the pitch obviously offering some movement in spite of perfect batting weather. Vital for the Pears to get through a tough first hour tomorrow and then try to cash in.