Pears wrap-up three-day win at Middlesex
Worcestershire wrap up a convincing 57-run win over Middlesex with a day to spare at Lord's in County Championship Division Two.
Rothesay County Championship, Division Two, Lord's (day three) Worcestershire 191 & 253: Lategan 65, Libby 79; Higgins 4-68 Middlesex 183 & 204: Cracknell 43*; Taylor 3-50 Worcestershire (19 pts) beat Middlesex (3 pts) by 57 runs Match scorecard Matthew Waite contributed with bat and ball as Worcestershire wrapped up a convincing 57-run win over Middlesex with a day to spare at Lord's. The all-rounder hit six fours in a crucial 34 to allow the visitors to set an imposing target of 262 on a pitch showing increasingly variable bounce. Waite would later claim the wickets of Sam Robson and Ryan Higgins to return 2-29 in a collective effort by the Worcester seamers as Middlesex were bowled out for 204, Joe Cracknell running out of partners on 43, while Max Holden made 40.
The match saw the latest instance of concussion protocols being followed, Worcestershire bringing in seamer Ben Gibbon after Adam Finch was forced to withdraw due to the blow on the head from a ball from Ryan Higgins in the death throes of day two. Worcestershire resumed on 200-7 having lost six wickets for 19 on the second evening, but Middlesex were strangely cautious, seemingly content to await a new ball 14 overs away. Against such tactics, Waite, on a pair, played fluently, driving one gloriously straight down the ground and utilizing the scoop to the vacant long leg region.
Gareth Roderick was more circumspect, but the pair added 49 priceless runs by the time the ripe cherry arrived. Thereafter the end came quickly. Roderick was bowled by Roland-Jones (3-40) from one that kept low, an ominous sign of things to come, and Waite's enterprising effort was ended by Robson's sharp catch at slip, before Tom Taylor holed out in the deep.
Robson and Josh De Caires negotiated a tricky 35 minutes before lunch with the latter striking four classy boundaries. However, the opener would fall in the first over following the resumption trapped in front. Robson resisted for a while before being undone by one from Waite that kept low.