Worcestershire’s seam bowlers took six wickets to rip through the Middlesex top order and put the away side in charge at the close after a superb 75 from Captain Brett D’Oliveira saved his side from a precarious position.
A chastening morning session had seen the visitors slip to 106-7, before Tom Taylor came together with the Worcestershire Captain to add a vital 52-runs for the eighth wicket and see the visitors up to 191.
In a dramatic end to the day, Worcestershire’s seam attack cashed in on some favourable conditions to take six Middlesex wickets, as Oliver Hannon-Dalby starred with 3-26.
Tom Taylor helped himself to two key wickets, aided by an Adam Finch breakthrough, with the dominant final session putting the Pears in charge at the close.
Returning to Rothesay County Championship Division Two action, buoyed by the last day dramatics a week earlier at Derbyshire, Jake Libby and Dan Lategan led out an unchanged Worcestershire side who were invited to bat first on a resplendent spring morning at Lord’s.
While Lategan took to the task of navigating the famous Lord’s slope in typically positive fashion, his opening partner Libby was unable to assert himself as he would have liked, as Sebastian Morgan beat his defences in the fourth over of the morning.
Now joined by a watchful Kashif Ali, teenage prodigy Lategan kicked on, demonstrating his repertoire of eye-catching stroke play, scoring boundaries freely.
The promising cameo from Worcestershire’s left-hander was ended shortly after passing 30 when he was pinned LBW from a Higgins ball that nipped back, before Adam Hose (11) was the victim of a superb catch behind from Cracknell shortly after taking the Pears past fifty.
Kashif Ali showed patience for his 14, but as the sun threatened to poke through the London skyline, his 43-ball resistance was ended by a pinpoint Higgins delivery that angled in and straightened to clip the off-stump bail and reduce the visitors to 60-4.
Brett D’Oliveira resumed his defence alongside new man Gareth Roderick, with the experienced pair looking to assert some calm on proceedings after a challenging opening 90 minutes.
On the stroke of lunch however, Roderick’s dismissal meant Worcestershire entered the interval, 84-5.
Captain D’Oliveira’s rearguard action extended into the afternoon session, with Worcestershire’s middle-order mainstay leading the fightback for his team in typically defiant fashion, moving into the 20s with Ethan Brookes for company.
Brookes batted with the upmost caution, taking his time in conjunction with his skipper, who had started to pick off the loose balls and find the boundary with frequency as the clouds began to dissipate over the iconic amphitheatre.
Disaster struck in the ensuing two overs however, as Brookes (9 off 33) was first caught after feathering an edge to a Toby Roland-Jones ball, before Monday’s hero of the hour Matthew Waite was prevented from recreating his theatrics after being run-out having faced just four deliveries.
Unphased, D’Oliveira pushed on. Now with Tom Taylor for company, the next hour of the day was dominated by the visitors, as the duo combined for a crucial eighth wicket stand of 52.
During that time, the Pears’ Captain raised his bat to acknowledge what was his 50th career fifty across all formats, as the travelling support put their hands together in recognition of what had been a real captain’s knock.
Taylor (19) looked in good touch before he was caught behind, cueing Worcestershire’s skipper to shift through the gears, making his way to 75 with two dismissive sixes, before his fine individual repost was cut short by Morgan, with the last two wickets falling cheaply as Worcestershire left the field 191 all out.
The visitors only had to wait until the seventh over of Middlesex’s response to find a breakthrough, when lead man Tom Taylor forced a mistimed drive out of Sam Robson, who could only inside edge the ball onto his front pad and balloon a simple catch up in the air back to the opening bowler.
Oliver Hannon-Dalby then doubled the visitors’ delight, as he produced an away swinger that ran away with the slope to catch the edge of Josh de Caires’ bat and leave the home side 16-2.
In timely fashion, the skies darkened over Lord’s, and, with the lights now taking full effect, the Worcestershire bowlers sensed their chance.
With Middlesex’s batters looking to dig in, Adam Finch was the man to break the deadlock when the seamer forced a loose shot out of Leus du Plooy, with the hosts’ skipper nicking behind into the grateful gloves of Gareth Roderick and heading back to the changing room for just 10.
Even a dropped catch at slip off the bowling of Ethan Brookes could not keep the Pears down, with three wickets for the cost of just two-runs seeing the match’s momentum turn on its head and put the away side firmly in the box seat.
A 54-run stand between Geddes and Holden was crucially broken by loanee Hannon-Dalby, who’s full-length delivery took a diversion via Geddes’ bat on its way to the watchful hands of Adam Hose at second slip.
Worcestershire’s day was far from done however, as there was time for two more wickets prior to the close when Tom Taylor removed Max Holden for 25 prior to Hannon-Dalby removing Ryan Higgins’ off-stump.
As both sides left the field prematurely due to bad light, Worcestershire will be itching re-enter the field of play first thing on Saturday morning, with their opponents staring down the barrel at 91-6.
