Foxes Face Tough Third Day Chase At Oakham After 19 More Wickets Fall

By Jon Culley, ECB Reporters' Network

Worcestershire need three more wickets to improve their Division Two promotion chances and dent Leicestershire’s after day two of their LV= Insurance County Championship at Oakham School proved no less eventful than the first.

It closed with Leicestershire, 88 for eight in their first innings overnight, 114 for seven in their second when bad light brought play to an early close, with Worcestershire bowled out for 169 in between. After 18 wickets on day one, 19 followed on day two, among them a couple for Josh Tongue, released from England duty at Old Trafford to rejoin his county team-mates here.

Dillon Pennington finished with four for 36 as Leicestershire were dismissed for 110 in 39.1 overs first time around before Jake Libby defied the seam-friendly surface with 67 off 87 balls as Worcestershire posted 169 in 40.4 overs to leave Leicestershire chasing 238 to win.

Chris Wright took four for 44 in Worcestershire’s first innings to raise his tally to 36 in his final season with Leicestershire. Pennington has three for 25 in Leicestershire’s second innings, in which Rehan Ahmed has added another defiant 33 to go with his 44 in the first innings.

At the start, Leicestershire added 22 in the time it took Worcestershire to take their remaining first-innings wickets, although it should have been fewer. Ahmed was dropped in the slips on 27 off the second ball of the morning.

Ahmed’s positivity was the model adopted by Libby, albeit with a little more refinement.  There were quite a few runs off the edge raced to fifty from 51 balls but it helped that when he did take a chance he committed fully to the shot; on this pitch, playing tentatively was to invite trouble.

There were casualties at the other end, though. Gareth Roderick was caught at third slip off Chris Wright, who found that the pitch, though drier than it had been at the start of day one, still had something in it for him as he uprooted Azhar Ali’s middle stump. Jack Haynes, attempting to pull, gloved a catch behind.

At 81 for three at lunch, Worcestershire had a lead of 149, which was probably where they wanted to be, but Leicestershire fought back well in the afternoon and as three wickets fell in the space of 11 balls the position was shifting.

Adam Hose, dropped on nought just before lunch, was taken with a juggle in his follow-through by Wright, who bowled Waite with another that nipped back. In between, Wiaan Mulder at last induced a fatal error from Libby, who pushed at one that left him late, giving Peter Handscomb a simple catch.  Six down and 183 ahead looked less comfortable.

Leicestershire kept up the pressure in the field, substitute fielder Roman Walker running out Joe Leach with a fine throw-in from deep square leg and Rishi Patel holding an excellent diving catch as Josh Baker slashed to backward point.

A catch by Mulder at first slip off Tom Scriven saw off Brett D’Oliveira, although the South African spilled one in the same over to let Pennington off the hook.  In the context of a low-scoring match, it was potentially an expensive error, with Worcestershire able to eke out another 24 runs before Scriven found the edge of Pennington’s bat again to wrap up the innings.

The target for Leicestershire was 238, some 60 more runs than had been scored in any of the three previous innings. Yet the pitch, by now subjected to the heavy roller twice in the day, was easing. The key for Leicestershire looked to be having the patience to negotiate the 44 overs to the close with minimal losses.

The 12 before tea did not augur well, with two gone for 24 after Louis Kimber was caught behind off the fifth ball and Patel, one of Leicestershire’s key hopes, edged to second slip in the sixth over.  More setbacks followed.

Ackermann departed to a catch at third slip by Baker low to his left that left him unsure - not unreasonably - whether it had been taken cleanly. Lewis Hill, on 10, was dropped on the long leg boundary off Waite, but then Tongue struck twice in three balls to leave Leicestershire in unquestionable peril at 53 for five, bringing one back to bowl Handscomb and having his fellow overseas player Mulder caught behind down the leg side.

With questionable light now making batting still more difficult, Pennington - like Tongue bound for Nottinghamshire at the end of the season - returned to take two in an over himself as Hill was given out caught down the leg side and Tom Scriven edged behind as Roderick held two more chances before the umpires called time with nine overs of the day’s schedule left.