[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

County Championship, Division Three

vs Sussex

Day One

Morning: Sussex won the toss and elected to bat on a cloudy, chilly Bank Holiday Monday at New Road with autumn very much in the air. The visitors had thrust youth to the fore with a line-up featuring six teenagers and an average age of just over nineteen, but the openers weathered the first forty minutes well despite playing and missing on a number of occasions. Joe Leach made the eventual breakthrough with a full straight ball striking the front pad of Sussex captain Tom Haines and removing him LBW for 20. Left-hander Harrison Ward then made only 1 before wafting the bat at an Adam Finch delivery angled across him and edging to third slip. Then shortly before lunch, James Coles attempted a straight drive to a ball pitched up from Dillon Pennington and lost his off-stump for 12, leaving the away side 71-3 at lunch; a fairly even score that was probably marginally more satisfying for the Pears, having lost the toss.

Afternoon: It all went wrong very quickly for Sussex after the resumption as Joe Leach went on the warpath; with the final delivery of the session's first over, Oliver Carter was bowled for a duck by a ball nipping sharply in past a half-shouldered bat, and then the first delivery of the next from Leach saw the skipper on a hat-trick as loanee Fynn Hudson-Prentice edged behind for another duck. The remaining opener, Ali Orr, completed his half-century in a vital anchoring knock, but when his back foot slipped onto the stumps on 52 to dismiss him hit wicket and leave Sussex 97-6, the pendulum swung sharply in Worcestershire's favour. Still, the visitors counter-attacked well, and despite losing a further wicket when Archie Lenham tried to pull Ed Barnard and edged behind for 20, 174-7 at tea represented a significant recovery.

Evening: Another early wicket for Joe Leach, trapping Dan Ibrahim LBW for 48 to leave Sussex 183-8. But matches turn on little moments, and Jack Carson edging behind on 2 and then being reprieved by a no ball call proved to be costly for the Pears. The tail-ender led the fightback from there, scoring freely off the spinners as he raced to a comfortable half-century and then a career-best score. There was a depressing dearth of yorkers and bouncers to test out the batsmen, and just when it looked like Worcs were guilty of letting things drift and waiting for the new ball, Brett D'Oliveira struck with the final ball of an otherwise expensive over to remove number ten Henry Crocombe LBW for 9. There was only time for four more deliveries in the day before the umpires decided that the growing gloom was unacceptable and called the players off with the score 254-9.

Having allowed the Sussex tail to wag, it's crucial for Worcestershire to strike early tomorrow and get the innings ended quickly. The forecast will be cloudy all week and batting is unlikely to get easier; this could well be a tight, low-scoring affair all round, and every run is precious.