[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

County Championship, Division Two

vs Durham

Day One

Morning: Durham won the toss and elected to bat on a warm and sunny May morning that promised big runs nationwide. It soon proved a terrible toss to lose, with the new ball claiming no casualties at all, and the hosts remaining without a breakthrough until ten past noon when Ed Barnard angled a ball across Alex Lees that the opener played onto the stumps for 27. Nevertheless, it was the only wicket to fall in a session that Durham dominated, going in for lunch 100-1.

Afternoon: And so it continued. There was at least a deserved reward for left-armer Ben Gibbon on his Championship (and professional) debut when he had Keegan Petersen caught behind for 50, a fine maiden first-class wicket. But again, it was a long, thankless slog of a session otherwise, and the visitors completed it on 208-2.

Evening: Sean Dickson continued his excellent season with another century, but then provided Ed Barnard with the only wicket of the evening as he edged a ball with extra bounce on an off-stump line to first slip for 104. Yet even the second new ball was to no avail for the Pears as Durham closed on 339-3, with Ben Stokes still to come. You can only spend so long lamenting a lost toss, but barring a miracle in the morning, it looks like that one 50/50 call has doomed Worcs to a weekend of batting to save a game that's already beyond them. In the absence of bowler-friendly conditions early on Friday, we have to hope that the weather will hold and the pitch will prove as flat as it currently appears when the time comes for Worcestershire to reply.