[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Day Two

Morning: A cloudy Friday with rain in the air and pitchforks at the ready following Thursday's catastrophe. There was, however, some fight from the bowlers as Joe Leach got right into the action, having nightwatchman Josh Davey caught at first slip for 2 and his fellow nocturnal guard Will Davis LBW for 12. Now on a roll and extracting plenty of bounce and movement from the pitch, the big man claimed an all-important fourth when Colin Ackermann edged to first slip for 1, but with recognised batsmen still to come, the Foxes rebuilt and reached lunch on 148-5, leading by an already-daunting 238.

Afternoon: A lengthy rain break worked wonders for the Pears, as Matthew Waite got a ball to nip back in and bowl Lewis Hill for 49. It proved to be a warm-up for a magnificent over which saw the Yorkshireman bundle out Peter Handscomb for 26 after the Aussie's swipe to leg resulted in a leading edge to mid-off, then have Wiaan Mulder caught at second slip when the ball reared up off a length, and Tom Scriven gone for a golden duck in the same fashion to a slightly fuller ball that moved away. That triple-wicket bonanza put the brakes on what had looked certain to be a 300+ score for the visitors, and when Rehan Ahmed tried to go T20 on Leach in an effort to claw back the momentum, it led only to a five-fer for the former skipper as Ahmed nearly swung himself off his feet and gifted a stumping to the keeper. 180 all out at tea, that revival in Worcestershire's fortunes nevertheless meant that the target was 271 on a perilous seamer's pitch.

Evening: And predictably, the openers weren't up to it. In the circumstances, with caution and intelligence required, it could hardly have been more galling to see both Azhar Ali and Ed Pollock get caught playing across the line against the new ball, leaving the Pears 2-2. It took a titanic effort and a little help from the weather for Jack Haynes and Gareth Roderick to see the hosts through to the close without further damage, finishing on 26-2 with 245 still required.