[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

County Championship, Division Two

vs Derbyshire

New Road, Worcester

Day One

Morning: The Pears won the toss and elected to bat on a warm, sunny midsummer Sunday in Worcester. There could be few complaints about the choice early on, as the openers put on an unbeaten half-century partnership and scored at a fair lick until Ben Aitchison got the Kookaburra ball - being trialled as an experiment in June and July - to nip back and bowl Gareth Roderick through the gate for 40 in the nineteenth over. With three figures up and only one wicket down, it was inarguably Worcestershire's session until the fourth delivery of the last over before lunch, when Azhar Ali attempted a drive to Anuj Dal and was caught at first slip for 14, evening up the scales a little as the interval came on 105-2.

Afternoon: 19-year-old academy prospect Rehaan Edavalath, handed his first-class debut during a sudden blight of squad injuries and sickness after scoring 131 for the seconds last week and 168 for Barnard's Green a day earlier, had a real Championship baptism of fire when the third ball he faced struck his pad and saw him off LBW for a duck. A half-century for Jake Libby and a fifty partnership with Adam Hose kept the ball rolling well into the afternoon, but when the latter was caught at first slip for 28 it was the start of a major subsidence. Libby was caught behind for 78 off Dal, and Ed Pollock attempted to leave the final ball of the session from the same bowler only to be bowled for 13.

Evening: Resuming on 189-6, Matthew Waite tried to counter-attack, but after a few early boundaries a seaming delivery from Conor McKerr bowled him for 19. Joe Leach then chipped the same bowler to midwicket for 3, Josh Baker - making his first appearance for nearly a year - was bowled by Luis Reece for 12, and the innings ended when Dal bowled Dillon Pennington for 18, dismissing Worcestershire for a distinctly disappointing 237 even on a pitch offering obvious assistance to the bowlers. But there was at least time to make conditions work in our favour, as overseas debutant Navdeep Saini got off to a dream Championship start by sending down his first ball on a perfect line and length to clonk the top of Harry Came's off-stump when the opener attempted the most ill-advised leave of the summer so far. It would still have been Derbyshire's day, but for the most curious of conclusions which saw the third session in a row ended with a final-over wicket; this time, the last scheduled delivery of the day from Pennington taking the edge of Reece's bat and flying low to first slip. 32-2 at close, it's even stevens in this one, but given our notorious inability to polish off a tail, early and cheap wickets are a must in the morning.