[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Day Three

Morning: A grey beginning to the day gave Glamorgan a chance to get back into the game, and their first breakthrough came when Jack Haynes fell LBW for 31 while trying to sweep Samit Patel, who then doubled his tally for the session with a ball that leapt up on Alex Milton, causing him to nick behind for 5. As he did in the first innings, Riki Wessels attacked the bowlers confidently and piled on a quickfire 32 before being dismissed LBW by Michael Hogan, who subsequently had Ben Cox caught behind for a duck. But while the wickets toppled at the other end, Daryl Mitchell calmly went about the business of marking his 200th Worcs appearance with his 37th first-class century, shepherding the hosts to lunch on 262-6 with a lead of 274.

Afternoon: With wickets being claimed in twos all day, it was Timm van der Gugten's turn to double up after the interval, dismissing Ed Barnard caught and bowled for 6 and then Joe Leach for 4, clipping to midwicket. Charlie Morris was bowled for 1 by Samit Patel as the Worcestershire tail folded, but by the time Mitch was run out, his 139 had carried the Pears up to a total of 299, setting Glamorgan a target of 312 to win. And if there were any lingering nerves about our ability to defend that score, they were allayed within the first five balls of the run-chase as Leach had Nick Selman caught at second slip, and then Kraigg Brathwaite was run out without facing a delivery by a direct hit from Barnard at cover. Leach struck again to bowl Nick Cullen for 5 shortly after, and with the visitors already in all kinds of trouble, Barnard completed a magnificent session by bowling the threatening David Lloyd around his legs for 29, and pinning Samit Patel plumb LBW for 7. On 69-5 at tea, the result was all but a foregone conclusion.

Evening: Charlie Morris ended the slim middle-order resistance with two wickets in an over, as Billy Root was caught at point for 26 and Ruadhri Smith dismissed LBW for 4, at which point the Welsh side cut loose and started swinging for the hell of it. After a few big boundaries, Adam Finch struck with the first ball of his spell to coax a top-edge from van der Gugten on the pull, safely pouched at midwicket, and it was down to Moeen to polish things off, bowling the stubborn Chris Cooke for 45 when he attempted a drive, and tempting Lukas Carey into holing out to the midwicket boundary for 12. After a four-month wait, it was a sound and convincing win for Worcs at last, and you can only wonder what might have been if we'd delivered this kind of performance all season.

Worcestershire WIN by a hundred and fifty-five runs

The Verdict: At last; at long last. It's been a miserable summer of Championship cricket for the Pears, and this victory is too little and too late to change a promotion bid which failed a couple of months ago, but the team are starting to get the basics right again, and now is the perfect time to put a bit of momentum together that can hopefully be carried into 2020.