Worcestershire secured their first Rothesay County Championship win of the season after a fine team performance that saw the Pears complete a comfortable 57-run victory late on day three at Lord’s.
Matthew Waite produced another crucial cameo on the third morning’s play, with his 34 helping the visitors extend their overnight lead, setting their opponents 262 to win on a deteriorating pitch.
In a cagey affair, the Pears’ seam attack took wickets at regular intervals to keep their noses in front, with Tom Taylor (3-50) and Oliver Hannon-Dalby (2-54) taking two wickets in successive overs midway through the afternoon to leave Middlesex 118-5, still 144 runs adrift.
A dominant evening session was concluded by Taylor, who took the final wicket of the match late in the day to seal a memorable and deserved win for the visitors.
Worcestershire’s Gareth Roderick and Matthew Waite strode out to the middle on another breezy morning at Lord’s looking to add to their 208-run lead, knowing their eighth-wicket partnership would have a big say in the outcome of what was becoming an increasingly compelling match.
Resuming on 200-7, the last two recognised Worcestershire batters started the morning in resolute fashion, playing watchfully against an aging ball that offered little in the way of scoring opportunities.
Despite batting with caution, Waite looked to be positive whenever the chance arose, finding the boundary as the morning progressed and Worcestershire’s lead edged towards 250.
Having stood firm for 72 balls, Roderick (18) was eventually undone in very unfortunate circumstances as a Roland-Jones delivery stayed very low and beat the Worcestershire keeper, who had gone back to the ball based on its length.
Despite the vital 49-run partnership ending, Waite, now joined by Tom Taylor, continued to dig in and see his side past 250, with every run now applauded by his onlooking teammates.
With the new ball taken at the start of the eightieth over by the hosts, the last two Pears wickets fell in quick succession to bring a close to the innings.
Waite’s cameo was ended as he edged a rising ball to gully for a hard-fought 34, before Taylor followed in the next over courtesy of a superb catch on the boundary by young Sebastian Morgan, with Worcestershire heading off the pitch knowing they would need to defend 262 to secure a first Division Two win of the season.
With a short window scheduled before the lunch break, it was Oliver Hannon-Dalby who would take the new ball alongside last year’s leading wicket-taker, looking for some valuable early inroads.
Asking plenty of questions on a surface aiding both seamers, chances were hard to come by as the home side entered the interval on day three 24 without loss.
Upon resumption, it was the impressive Hannon-Dalby who struck first for the Pears, with the Warwickshire loanee getting one to angle back and beat the defences of de Caries for 17, as Worcestershire looked to capitalise on their breakthrough.
As predicted, the pitch offered assistance to the visitors’ bowling unit, with Ben Gibbon now entering the fray, with the left-armer on as a concussion substitute for Adam Finch, who was unable to take the field after suffering a blow to the head whilst batting late the night prior.
He and Waite continued to probe, with the latter next to strike shortly after the home side had passed fifty, seeing the back of Sam Robson with a full, in-swinging ball that clattered into the right-hander’s front pad as it was bound for the stumps, to reduce Middlesex to 59-2.
With the game tensely poised, the engaging battle between bat and ball resumed, with Taylor beating the bat and getting the ball to talk upon his re-introduction, and he was soon to be rewarded for his efforts.
In a typically economical spell, beating the bat on numerous occasions, Taylor was the man to break a stubborn 43 run stand between Holden and du Plooy, as the Middlesex captain mistimed a drive back down the ground, chipping a simple catch straight back to the bowler on his follow through to cue the celebrations as Worcestershire claimed a pivotal third wicket of the day.
With D’Oliveira forcing a squeeze on the hosts, deploying a short mid-off and on mid-on, more pressure told for the visitors in a majestic two-over spell that swung the momentum of the game right back in his team’s favour.
Taylor produced a textbook ball midway through his 14th over, using the slope to angle a ball back and castle the in and set Geddes, and just three balls later the returning Hannon-Dalby helped himself to a sixth wicket of the match, catching the edge of Holden’s bat with Roderick taking a superb one-handed diving catch down low to his left, leaving Middlesex 118-5, still 144 runs adrift as Tea honed into view.
Returning to the field looking to seize the moment, the effervescent Matthew Waite strengthened the away side’s grip on the game when he bowled all-rounder Higgins for 11, before a moment of genius from Dan Lategan at extra-cover saw him take a shy at the stumps as Gohar dashed for a quick single but the pinpoint throw from the teenager saw the direct-hit leave the batter short of his ground and take Worcestershire one step closer to victory.
Ben Gibbon heaped the pressure on and reduced Middlesex to 157-8 as the left-arm seamer produced a peach of a delivery to clip the top of Morgan’s off-stump, with the hosts still 105 runs short of their target.
A 29 run ninth-wicket stand threatened to prolong proceedings, but Ethan Brookes’ sharp reactions saw him get a fingertip to a ball driven back at him, and with the non-striker Roland-Jones short of his ground, the ball careered into the stumps and put the Pears within one wicket of a memorable victory.
Fittingly, the final word belonged to Tom Taylor, as the talismanic bowler took the final wicket of the match by removing Sharma for three, cueing scenes of elation for the visitors who sealed a convincing 57-run win to get their season up and running with 19 well-earned points.
