[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Day Two

Morning: One decent partnership was all Lancashire needed, and one decent partnership was what they got as the Pears toiled with the old ball for an hour and a half on a sunny morning at Old Trafford. Livingstone and Vilas lifted the home side to parity with very few scares, and into a slender lead before Wayne Parnell finally made the breakthrough, bowling Dane Vilas for 63. That opening sparked a collapse, as Charlie Morris had Steven Croft caught at second slip for a duck and Tom Bailey caught at point for 2 when the ball looped up off an edge onto pad. Parnell completed his first Championship five-fer for Worcestershire by bowling Livingstone for 69, and with the extra half-hour taken, Morris wrapped it up to leave Lancashire 201 all out with a first-innings lead of 29.

Afternoon: The worst possible start after the late lunch with Daryl Mitchell caught at gully off an edge for 6. From there, Tom Fell and George Rhodes did the right thing in trying to dig in and build a partnership, ticking along at just one run an over for the hour that followed. However, the resistance ended when Rhodes was bowled for 26, and neither Ferguson or Wessels were able to score before they too trudged back to the pavilion. Three wickets for just eight runs left Worcs 58-4, and the visitors were relieved to make it to tea with no further loss on 76-4.

Evening: The attempt to grind out an attritional score continued through the evening, but Lancashire's tight, accurate fast bowling left precious little for the batsmen to attack, and when Fell departed LBW for 40 to a full delivery from Richard Gleeson it ended the hopes of a strong lead. Ross Whiteley was bowled for 5 by Jimmy Anderson soon after, and Ben Cox was dismissed LBW for 19 before another decent partnership began between Ed Barnard and Parnell to carry the lead into three figures. Sadly, just when it looked like the pair might see out the day, the former went for 18 by chopping on and the latter edged behind for 25 in the last over, leaving the Pears 149-9 at close with a lead of just 120. A minor miracle in the morning might lift it up above 150 to give the bowlers something to defend, but otherwise this one looks like a goner.