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County Championship, Division Two

vs Glamorgan

Day One

Morning: Glamorgan put the Pears straight in to bat on a misty Tuesday morning at New Road, hosting its first Championship match for months after the break for the T20 Blast and the chaos of June's floods. Hamish Rutherford was the first casualty of the day, bowled by Michael Hogan for a brisk 19 on his home Championship debut, and he was followed back by Moeen Ali, who made an equally rapid 18 before a careless drive saw him edge Timm van der Gugten low to third slip. However, a watchful Daryl Mitchell, making his two hundredth first-class appearance for the county, nudged his way to 31 as Worcs reached lunch on 74-2.

Afternoon: Sadly, the veteran only added 5 to his tally after the interval before being caught behind for 36, and in an all-too-common sight this season, that precipitated a collapse for the hosts. Alex Milton was the next to be caught behind for 12, and the Championship debut of Jack Haynes faltered when the eighteen-year-old was dismissed LBW for 17 offering no shot to a ball that nipped back from van der Gugten. The same bowler and mode of dismissal did for Ben Cox on 7, and though Riki Wessels counter-attacked with an impressive 45 off 35 balls, balancing streaky boundaries with fierce cover drives, he too fell by driving Rory Smith straight to mid-off. Smith also claimed the sixth and final wicket of the afternoon by pinning Joe Leach LBW for 7, and the Pears duly closed the session on 186-8, once again facing the prospect of making not a single batting point.

Evening: With a bit of patience and luck, the hosts guided themselves to within a single run of that elusive batting point before Charlie Morris was bowled by Hogan for 9, and newcomer Adam Finch finished the job in style by driving his very first ball for four. However, he added only one more run to his tally before being pouched at first slip off Hogan, leaving Worcestershire 205 all out. Still, that perilously low total was put into a bit of perspective before stumps when Morris had Nick Selman caught at second slip for 6, and Ed Barnard followed up by having Tom Cullen caught behind for 10. Glamorgan closed on 44-2 to just about shade the day's play, but with plenty still to do.