[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

County Championship, Division Two

vs Leicestershire

Day One

Morning: Leicestershire won the toss and elected to bat with early cloud forecast to give way to a sunny Thursday, and for over an hour it seemed that Callum Parkinson might have made a sound call in his first outing as captain. The only victim of the new ball was Hasan Azad, who departed LBW for 1 when Dillon Pennington struck him plumb on the front pad, and as the sun peeked out just after noon, it found the visitors cruising along on 48-1. And yet that was as good as it ever got for the Foxes. When a delivery from Charlie Morris stuck in the pitch, it drew a mistimed glance from Rishi Patel who was promptly caught at short midwicket for 24. The following over, the dangerous Colin Ackermann edged Ed Barnard to first slip for 1, and when Morris dismissed Lewis Hill LBW for 23 with a full inswinger the collapse was on. Barnard drew an edge from Wiaan Mulder that was snaffled brilliantly low down at third slip for a duck, and Pennington completed the midday carnage with a bouncer to debutant Rehan Ahmed, whose pull was top-edged to first slip for a duck. 62-6 at lunch, the session was Worcestershire's all the way, and Parkinson's decision to bat a burgeoning catastrophe.

Afternoon: A counter-attacking rebuild from Harry Swindells and Ben Mike after the interval came to a timely end when Matthew Waite coaxed a bit of extra bounce off a length and Swindells' attempted back-foot defensive looped up for a running catch on the off-side for 23, giving the Yorkshire loanee his first Pears wicket. And one quickly became two in his next over as Ben Mike played all around a ball on off-stump and was bowled through the gate for 16. Josh Baker got in on the fun when Ed Barnes chopped onto the stumps for 1, and with the Foxes 98-9 there was a tantalising possibility of dismissing the visitors for less than three figures. But the last-wicket stand of Callum Parkinson and Chris Wright held up proceedings with what became the largest partnership of the innings, lifting Leicestershire to a better tally than they'd have dared hope for half an hour earlier, before Barnard took the edge of Parkinson's bat and had him caught at first slip for 22. With Leicestershire 148 all out, an early and highly satisfying tea was taken around half past three.

Evening: Worcestershire commenced their reply in warm sunshine on a fine May afternoon, with early boundaries setting the tone. Ed Pollock was the dynamo in an opening stand of 48, which ended when a ball from Wiaan Mulder nipped back to strike Jake Libby on the pads, sending him back to the pavilion LBW for 17. Mulder made it a brace in his next over when he tempted Pollock into a trademark leg-side wallop that fell for 32 into the hands of the man placed in the deep for that purpose, but Worcestershire's increasingly impressive third-wicket pair of Azhar Ali and Jack Haynes were as assured as ever at the crease, and Azhar brought up his half-century before the close after a sumptuous selection of cuts and drives. The Pears ended the day on 159-2, already leading by 11 and with license to punish the Foxes on Friday.