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Day Four

Morning: A Saturday of sun with fluffy cumulus clouds scudding over Cheltenham, and having made the necessary overnight declaration to set Gloucestershire a fairly nominal target of 422, Joe Leach got the ball (quite literally) rolling for Worcestershire when he claimed his fortieth scalp of the summer, bowling over the wicket to the left-handed Chris Dent and drawing him forward to a ball angled across his body, the resulting edge flying to third slip for 24. Adam Finch then removed Joe Phillips with a short ball that the young opener shaped to pull, but seemingly halted in mid-stroke and lobbed up a tame top-edge to point for 26. More short stuff from Finchy saw the dangerous Ollie Price also top-edging, this time to deep fine leg for 14, and a lunchtime score of 106-3 indicated that despite a relatively even session, Worcestershire were pretty much on the right course.

Afternoon: For three and a half days, the story of the match had been one of lengthy partnerships interrupted by clutches of wickets, and so it was on a bright Saturday afternoon as Leach breached the resistance of James Bracey, having him caught behind for 19, before Dillon Pennington had Tom Price snaffled behind the stumps prodding at a ball that snaked away. A continuing rearguard action from Miles Hammond carried the hosts past three o'clock, but again one wicket brought two; Hammond went to pull a back-of-a-length delivery banged in by Finchy, but the ball kept a touch low and Hammond simply bottom-edged onto the stumps for 64, while Zafar Gohar was squared up by a fuller and straighter Finch ball and was bowled off a possible outside edge for 5. 192-7 at tea, comfortably Worcestershire's session, and mopping up the tail inside thirty-nine overs seemed almost a formality.

Evening: But few things are a formality on Planet Pear, and for twenty-three of those thirty-nine overs Gloucestershire frustrated Worcs as Jack and Matt Taylor dug in admirably and produced some marvellous strokes against a tiring attack labouring doggedly with the old ball. Sixteen remained when the second new ball was taken, and there were some 89 deliveries left when Jack Taylor, poised on 98, played the ball firmly back to Pennington who promptly hurled it at the batsman's feet, striking Taylor's lower leg. This spot of dissent from the bowler rightly resulted in five penalty runs, but not in his withdrawal from the attack; a judgement which proved fateful two deliveries later when Taylor, his cage perhaps rattled by the incident, threw the kitchen sink at a ball outside off and dragged it onto his stumps, the clatter of the bails and the silence of the crowd a stark substitute for the illusory thump of the boundary fence and approving roars that had doubtless preceded his rush of blood. The controversial over was capped two deliveries later when Pennington sent down a full and fast one that Zaman Akhtar fenced at, nicking low to first slip for a silver duck. It was, perhaps, fitting that the last stand should offer another spell of resistance, and the overs remaining were into single digits - just 54 balls left to be bowled - before Pennington wrapped it up with a searing yorker on off stump to bowl Paul van Meekeren for 7.

Worcestershire WIN by one hundred and ten runs

The Verdict: Our first back-to-back Championship wins since May 2019, a first win at Cheltenham since 2014, and suddenly the idea of Worcestershire claiming second place (and deserving it) isn't so fanciful. The run-in against Glamorgan, Yorkshire and Durham in September will be real make-or-break stuff, but should we come through that test, promotion would be a fitting reward. Across four days, there's no doubting that the better team won this encounter, and though Gloucs have probably got just grounds for complaint against Pennington (and many a Pear wouldn't lift a finger to defend our departing prodigy from that criticism), the umpires clearly decided that the nature of the incident didn't warrant his withdrawal from the attack, and no one forced Jack Taylor to play the shot that triggered the collapse. With Rob Jones arriving on loan this weekend ahead of his permanent move from Lancashire, we could hardly have more momentum going into the One Day Cup.