[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

County Championship, Division Three

vs Leicestershire

Day One

Morning: Leicestershire won the toss and elected to bat as welcome September sunshine flooded New Road on a balmy Tuesday, and with their shadows stretching long over the wicket, the opposition formed a respectful guard of honour to welcome Daryl Mitchell onto the field for the final match of his career. It was no less an occasion for Joe Leach after announcing his decision to resign the captaincy at season's end, and the skipper led the way as ever, drawing an edge from Hasan Azad in his second over that was snaffled at second slip for 2. There was a sense of deja vu for a spell after that, with one dropped catch, LBW shouts being denied, and bad balls being driven to the boundary with alarming regularity; but the Foxes were guilty of growing a little too complacent, and Rishi Patel threw his wicket away on 22 when he chipped Ed Barnard straight to mid-off. Another rebuild followed, but one more vital scalp before lunch - that of ex-Pear George Rhodes, who shaped to attack a fullish ball from Dillon Pennington, then changed his mind and attempted to leave with a flourish of the bat, only to glance the rising ball straight to first slip for 27 - allowed Worcestershire to claim even honours going into the interval with the score 88-3.

Afternoon: The Pears kept the pressure up after the break, and Ed Barnard was rewarded with the big wicket of Lewis Hill, who drove at a ball swinging violently away from him and edged to first slip for 40. Coming into the attack, Josh Baker then coaxed some early turn from the surface, enticing Ben Mike to hole out to mid-off for just 3, and then in his next over deceiving youngster Sam Bates with a bit of extra bounce, the ball lobbing up off the debutant's forward defensive to be caught at short leg for a duck. It became an irresistible charge for the home side when Charlie Morris sent down a classic pacey nip-backer that bowled Ed Barnes for 13, and with four wickets in the session leaving Leicestershire 171-7, the Pears undoubtedly had the session and the match so far in hand.

Evening: Nevertheless, the visitors offered some resistance in the lazy post-prandial light, with Louis Kimber making a vital half-century as part of a rearguard that lifted the Foxes up to their first batting point. There were to be no more wickets with the old ball, but when Leach took the new nut around five o'clock, it was all over in minutes; Kimber departed LBW for 71, Pennington dismissed Callum Parkinson for 17 in the same fashion, and then Leach knocked back Chris Wright's off-stump for 2, reducing the Foxes from 218-7 to 222 all out. Minutes later, a suitable ovation greeted Mitch as he strode out to the middle for what was liable to be his penultimate innings; however, despite a decent start, it wasn't to be a fairytale finish this time round as a cracking ball on the stumps from Chris Wright swung away towards the off-peg, drawing Mitch into a tentative defence which sent an edge flying directly to second slip for 8. There was, however, sufficient time remaining for Jake Libby to reach 1000 Championship runs for the season - by my reckoning, the first Worcs player to manage the milestone since 2017 - and together with nightwatchman Charlie Morris, Worcestershire closed on 30-1, trailing by 192. Having lost the toss, that showing is just enough to claim the day's honours, but will still require a strong performance on Wednesday to take the match firmly by the scruff of the neck.