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County Championship, Division Two

vs Sussex

Day One

Morning: Sussex won the toss and elected to bat on a bright and brisk Monday morning on the south coast. It was a fateful decision, and their ruing of it began just five balls into the innings when Joe Leach angled a fullish delivery towards off-stump which tempted Ali Orr to defend, only to hesitate at the last instant, resulting in an inside-edge onto the stumps for 1. The big man's next over brought another left-hand casualty, with Tom Alsop struck on the back pad and dismissed LBW for a duck; four overs later it was Tom Clark's turn to depart, also leg-before to Leach for 8. Dillon Pennington then came into the attack and struck with his first ball, a trademark delivery with a little extra bounce off a length that caused Oli Carter to fence at the ball and edge behind for 1. Ben Gibbon capped a marvellous first hour for the Pears when he bowled the tenacious Tom Haines for a hard-fought 2, and the hosts were reduced to a staggering 23-5. However, it was also as good as the morning got for Worcestershire as Fynn Hudson-Prentice led a counter-attacking recovery for the hosts, surviving a chance on 37 when a sharp edge off an Ed Barnard delivery flew to the shoulder of second slip and was put down. 90-5 at lunch was a score that any Pears fan would have taken before play began, but one that seemed a touch disappointing after the phenomenal start.

Afternoon: Hudson-Prentice completed his half-century, but was unable to push on as he nicked Pennington behind for 51, and new man Faheem Ashraf then gave Leach his 400th first-class wicket as he edged to second slip for 2. At 106-7 there was rich cause for optimism, but the tail wagged handsomely for Sussex with James Cole and Jack Carson each contributing a half-century to the cause. The former was architect of his own demise when he pulled Gibbon straight to deep backward square for 54, and the same bowler then coaxed Henry Crocombe into holing out for 16 with a wild lash of the bat. The innings was wrapped up on the stroke of tea when Carson attempted to hustle a second run and was run out for 58 by a direct hit from Jake Libby, drawing the curtain on another five-wicket session with Sussex 220 all out; again, an afternoon that belonged to the visitors, marred only by the tantalising question of whether we could have been more ruthless.

Evening: As warm afternoon sunlight gave way to floodlit autumnal gloom, we were treated to an exemplary opening partnership from Libby and Ed Pollock, the latter reining his instincts in admirably as Sussex set a leg-side trap for him with two men in the deep, which he refused to be drawn into. Instead, the good balls were respected and the bad balls punished with some proper attacking shots, and Worcestershire reached stumps on 87-0 with the new ball seen off comfortably.

Unequivocally a day that belonged to the Pears, and a real platform to build on tomorrow.