Worcestershire must dig in on the final day of their Rothesay County Championship tie away at Derbyshire to have any chance of taking anything from the game after being forced to follow on during Day Three.
Early in the day, promising youngster Dan Lategan showed his potential with a composed 89 before being run out in a disrupted morning session which saw the players leave the field twice for rain.
Adam Hose and captain Brett D’Oliveira looked to have built a solid platform for their side with a 71-run partnership before Hose (42) was caught behind. Captain D’Oliveira went on to make a half-century but fell shortly after. Despite Matthew Waite (17) and Tom Taylor (21*) showing some resistance down the order, Worcestershire’s first innings total of 312 meant they were still 313 runs behind.
Asked to follow on, Worcestershire had to face a difficult spell from Muhammad Abbas who took the wicket of opener Jake Libby (15) as Worcestershire finished the day on 68/1.
In the morning, Worcestershire pair Dan Lategan and Adam Hose resumed their side’s first innings under blue skies at the Central Co-op County Ground on Easter Sunday. While the high winds of the first two days remained, overhead conditions had initially improved, but early showers meant a sporadic first session was paused after just 35 minutes with Worcestershire adding 27 runs to their overnight total.
Lategan, who had batted with maturity to be 77* overnight, said after Day Two that his team would ‘bat as long as they could’. The start he and Hose made proved he intended to be true to his word, with the pair registering their first boundaries in the sixth and seventh overs respectively, both playing well-timed drives into the offside.
Prior to that, there was some early drama.
Derbyshire’s Aitchison thought he’d made an early breakthrough in the 4th over of the day when Lategan nicked it towards second slip but the ball dropped just short of Caleb Jewell. The following over saw the ball replaced and Worcestershire were awarded 5 penalty runs for ‘deception’ in the field.
When the rain arrived, Lategan had moved on to 87* from 150 and Hose 12* from 43. The players briefly returned to the field for just two balls before the rain came down again.
Shortly after the players returned from the second rain break, heartbreak struck as Dan Lategan, hesitating before going for a second run, was run out by Brooke Guest on 89 (153). Lategan, who’d shown composure to survive a difficult spell late on Day Two after an initial quick start, had looked well set to progress to a maiden first class century, despite the stop-start nature of the morning session.
The dismissal brought captain Brett D’Oliveira to the crease, who survived a scare on 0 as he nicked one down the leg side, but Guest failed to take a difficult chance, leaving Worcestershire on 155/3 at lunch.
The experienced pair of Brett D’Oliveira and Adam Hose came out after lunch with positive intent, highlighted by D’Oliveira hitting Chappell for two fours in an over and the pair taking 11 from England international Shoaib Bashir’s first over of the day. That over also marked the pair’s 50 partnership and injected some hope that Worcestershire were laying a strong foundation for the session.
The bright start took Worcestershire to 213/3 but was punctured when the Pears lost two wickets in six balls. Adam Hose (42) was caught behind driving to the offside and Gareth Roderick (1) was given lbw before he really had time to settle at the crease.
Ethan Brookes’ arrival brought some semblance of recovery as he and Captain D’Oliveira put on 50 in 80 balls, surviving a spell of short-pitch bowling from Zak Chappell.
Just three balls after reaching a resilient 50 (100), D’Oliveira was out, caught at slip off a good Bashir delivery, leaving Worcestershire 264/6 after 75 overs.
Five overs later, and with his side 276/6, Brookes, who’d played well for 35 (52), was out lbw to Derbyshire’s Martin Andersson.
Matthew Waite & Tom Taylor displayed commendable resilience in the first 10 overs after tea but Waite’s dismissal triggered a late flurry of wickets as Derbyshire’s most economical bowler, Anuj Dal (14.1-6-22-3) had his discipline rewarded with three wickets in five balls.
Shortly after bringing up his side’s 300 with an offside drive for 4, Waite was bowled for 17 (58) halfway through the 93rd over. Dal then took the wicket of Adam Finch (0) by finding the edge just three balls later, before bowling Oliver Hannon-Dalby with the first ball of his next over, leaving Worcestershire with a first innings score of 312, trailing by 313 runs.
Worcestershire were then asked to follow on with Dan Lategan and Jake Libby charged with giving their side the best chance possible to secure a draw.
Muhammed Abbas (6-5-1-1) showed his pedigree with a spell which included the wicket of opener Libby (15), who was caught behind.
The day’s play was brought to an early close due to bad light with Worcestershire 68/1.
