[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Day Four

Morning: On a considerably more inclement day than those preceding, there was tension in the air as the Pears set about chasing a total so low that the visitors really had nothing to lose by going into all-out attack. Sure enough, within five overs Daryl Mitchell was LBW offering no stroke to Chris Rushworth, who then bowled George Rhodes for a duck as he attempted a drive three balls later, leaving Worcestershire 26-2. A few overs later, the Durham paceman bowled Josh Dell for 4, removed Riki Wessels for a duck - again within three balls - and then completed a remarkable five-fer by dismissing Tom Fell LBW for a patient 36. By that point the Pears had staggered to 55-5, and though a couple more wickets might well have put the cat among the pigeons, they never came. Ross Whiteley and Ben Cox were the calm heads in a crisis, taking Worcs over the line to a second successive Championship win, and the top of the Division Two table.

Worcestershire WIN by five wickets

The Verdict: In bowler-friendly conditions on a fourth-day pitch, facing a new ball in the typical first-hour New Road minefield, the top-order collapse can probably be forgiven. What matters is the 47 points accrued from a possible 48, matching in just two games the grand total of two red-ball wins in 2018. With Joe Leach back and Charlie Morris joint leading wicket-taker for the division, while Josh Tongue put in another assured performance before a watching Ashley Giles, we have the makings of a formidable attack at our disposal. And we'll be needing them, with the next four matches all against potential promotion rivals, beginning on Monday with a trip to Old Trafford, in a phase of the season that may go a long way to determining our ultimate fate.