Parkinson claims career milestone on tough second day
Wed 22 Sep 2021
DAY TWO | Leicestershire CCC 222 v Worcestershire CCC 378 for six
SCORECARD | Available HERE
REPORT | Callum Parkinson claimed his 50th wicket of the 2021 LV= County Championship on day two at New Road.
Day two got underway under the Worcestershire sunshine as the Running Foxes were looking to build on the early breakthrough made on the first day.
The hosts, led out by Jake Libby who was joined by nightwatchman Charlie Morris, had other ideas though.
The second wicket partnership proved a tough test for the County bowling attack and after beginning day two on 30 for one, found themselves surpassing the 100-run mark for Worcestershire with a stand also approaching its 100th run.
Libby “ as expected “ was leading the way after recording his half-century by flicking Ed Barnes away through square leg for his ninth four of the innings, the fifty coming in 72 balls.
Libby was not doing all the scoring though, as Morris was also chipping in with his fair share of boundaries including three successive fours off Chris Wright.
Leicestershire looked to a number of bowling changes to try and bring the second wicket stand to an end, with Callum Parkinson adding his expertise into the equation, although, it was without any immediate reward.
There was time enough left in the first session of the day for Morris to join Libby on recording his half-century, coming from 123 balls and including nine fours.
The Worcestershire duo then saw themselves through to the lunch interval, with the second wicket still intact on 122*, with Libby on 70* and Morris on 50*.
It took just one full over of the afternoon session for the County bowlers to make the post-lunch breakthrough with Parkinson breaking the second wicket stand.
Morris (50) was the man to go after the Foxes man fired one into the batsman, beat the bat and clattered into the batman’s stumps.
Nine overs later and Wright removed the remaining Worcestershire opener, after he and Louis Kimber combined for the second time in the innings.
Wright’s delivery seamed away from the batsman, found the outside edge and flew into the hands of Kimber stood at second slip. Libby went for 77 as Jack Haynes joined the recently new batsman, Gareth Roderick in the middle.
Worcestershire were now 153 for three.
The duo of Roderick and Haynes soon found their form in the middle and began to put together a useful partnership, and soon, they exceeded the 50-run mark as Haynes cut Parkinson away off his back foot for four.
The partnership only reached 57 before falling though, as Barnes chipped in with his first of the innings.
The man to go was Roderick (35) after squirting Barnes’ yorker towards Kimber stood at first slip.
Brett D’Oliveira emerged to join Haynes in the middle with the duo seeing the hosts through to tea on 252 for four.
The final session of day two got underway with five overs remaining until Leicestershire had the option of the new ball, and the fifth wicket stand would be aiming to get through to the 80 overs together.
As it happened, neither Haynes nor D’Oliveira made it to the 80th over mark as Parkinson claimed both of their wickets to bring up his 49th and 50th wickets of the 2021 LV= County Championship season.
First to go of the two batsmen was D’Oliveira, as he looked to continue his expansive play with a drive through the covers.
However, he guided his shot straight to the hands of Hassan Azad who took the grab to see the Worcestershire man off for a rapid 37.
Two overs later, and Parkinson removed Haynes for 44. The wicket fell in extraordinary circumstances as Haynes edged the delivery that turned away from the batsman through to Sam Bates.
The ball ricocheted off the inside of Bates’ right leg pad and onto the stumps with Haynes out of crease, going into the scorebook as the Foxes man’s first stumping of his career.
Worcestershire, as stunned by the dismissal as they must have been were now on 270 for six with Ed Barnard and Ben Cox coming together with just one delivery remaining until the new ball.
Leicestershire, of course, opted to take the new ball at the end of Parkinson’s 25th over, with Chris Wright and Ben Mike coming back into the attack.
The new ball failed to made the impact that the Running Foxes were hoping for with no further wickers taken on day two.
With three overs remaining in the day, Cox became the third member of the Worcestershire batting line up to record his half-century, coming from 77 balls and including seven fours.
The seventh wicket stand then saw themselves through to day three with the partnership still intact on 108*, with Cox on 52* and Barnard 44*.
FIGURES (1st inns) | Wright 25-6-71-2, Sakande 16-0-54-0, Mike 17-1-75-0, Barnes 14-1-70-1, Parkinson 30-7-68-3, Rhodes 5-0-23-0
TEAM | Hassan Azad, Rishi Patel, George Rhodes, Lewis Hill, Louis Kimber, Sam Bates (wk), Ben Mike, Ed Barnes, Callum Parkinson (C), Chris Wright, Abi Sakande.
WORCESTERSHIRE CCC | Jake Libby, Daryl Mitchell, Gareth Roderick, Jack Haynes, Brett D’Oliveira, Ed Barnard, Ben Cox (wk), Joe Leach (C), Josh Baker, Dillon Pennington, Charlie Morris
IMAGES | Thanks to John Mallett of Outside Off for providing the images throughout the game.
