Worcestershire Story - The Real Home of Cricket

[C.Turner]

After viewing a lot of the other stories, I thought I would have a go at one myself. Going into my last year of University in Worcester, I thought my adopted second County would be a worthwhile choice.

Ultimately I would like to bring Division One Cricket back to New Road so that will be the aim first season, however the squad is not an incredibly strong one, very much reliant on players such as Moeen Ali. In the last few years The Pears have worked extremely hard with their academy and this can be seen in the current side with the breakthrough of players such as Joe Leach and Tom Fell.

With the side short on batting choices, I brought in Phil Dowland, a youth player who was averaging 55 in 2nd team cricket, and Australian/Netherlands International Tom Cooper as my reserve, whilst adding £10,000 to my Youth Coaching budget.

[C.Turner]

Lancashire vs Worcestershire

First up we traveled to Manchester to face Lancashire in what would be a tough game. I decided to throw both Fell and Dowlands straight into the side to see how they would perform.



Day One: Worcestershire won the toss and put Lancashire into bat on what ended up as a rather cloudy day. Moeen Ali aka 'The Beard That's Feared' took two wickets before lunch but we struggled in the second session. Gareth Andrew took two wickets but they were progressing well. However, from being 224-4 at tea, Lancashire collapsed to 264 all-out and Andrew taking 4 wickets.

Day Two: The day began disastrously with Pardoe falling for just 2 followed by Captain Mitchell (13) and Ali (4) shortly after. We reached Lunch without another mishap but Kervezee was trapped LBW for 24 in the first over. Samaraweera's innings came to an end shortly before tea for 86 whilst Dowland fell just after for 38. The tail collapsed and we fell for 225 all-out with Andrew unbeaten on 18.

Day Three: Lancs made it to 94-3 by Lunch but stumbled to 182 all-out with Steve Croft top scoring with 33 leaving us a target of 218 to win - tough but doable.

Day Three Evening/Four: Pardoe (0) and Samaraweera (2) did not help our cause whilst Mitchell (22) and Kervezee (12) also fell. At the end of day three we were 59-4 needing 159 to win. Dowland was finally out for 79 whilst Ali made 72 but Fell (7) and Andrew (1) didn't last long leaving the tail exposed. 210 for 8 needing 8 to win..



We did it! Lucas (12*) and Richardson (3*) got us over the line! Great win in the end.

Batting award: Samaraweera's 86 in the first innings kept us in the game when everyone else failed. Nevertheless, Dowland did very well on debut.

Bowling award: Gareth Andrew's 4-36 in their first innings came at a crucial time when they were looking good.

Onwards and upwards!

[GrahamB]

After viewing a lot of the other stories, I thought I would have a go at one myself. Going into my last year of University in Worcester, I thought my adopted second County would be a worthwhile choice.

Ultimately I would like to bring Division One Cricket back to New Road so that will be the aim first season, however the squad is not an incredibly strong one, very much reliant on players such as Moeen Ali. In the last few years The Pears have worked extremely hard with their academy and this can be seen in the current side with the breakthrough of players such as Joe Leach and Tom Fell.

With the side short on batting choices, I brought in Phil Dowland, a youth player who was averaging 55 in 2nd team cricket, and Australian/Netherlands International Tom Cooper as my reserve, whilst adding £10,000 to my Youth Coaching budget.

Good luck. After watching Worcestershire finish bottom of the table two seasons running in my Leicestershire game, I'm convinced that they must indeed be the toughest challenge to take on.

[C.Turner]

Good luck. After watching Worcestershire finish bottom of the table two seasons running in my Leicestershire game, I'm convinced that they must indeed be the toughest challenge to take on.

Thanks, it's definitely going to be tough, might take a few years but worth a try!

[C.Turner]

Game 2 - Glamorgan vs Worcestershire

I was quite reluctant to change anything after the winning start, however I probably would have changed more if I had any options! Pardoe kept his place despite two poor innings and the only change was left arm medium pacer Jack Shantry in for Richard Jones.



Day 1: We won the toss and went in to bat. Pardoe (2) once again failed as did Mitchell who managed just 4 off a ridiculous 44 balls! Samaraweera (37) battled well as did Ali (61) and it wasn't looking good until Lucas (44) and Andrew (43*) dug us out a hole but we still only made 265 all out, not good enough really.

Day 1 Evening/Day 2: Richardson removed Rees for 15 in the only action before day 2. By tea however we had them at 240-6. Walters (46) and North (47) was a useful partnership and Allenby was a tough nut to crack standing on 68 not out. Once again Gareth Andrew tore through the tail and Glamorgan finished on 300 all out, with Allenby unbeaten on 95 and a lead of 35 runs.

Day 2 Evening/Day 3: A slow start got us through to day 3 at 14-0 but by Lunch we were 99-3 despite Mitchell (33) and Pardoe (35) providing a reasonable start. Before long the majority of the middle order had fallen, with Ali, Kervezee, Dowland and Andrew hardly challenging the scorers. Fell (37) and Lucas (33) were resistant but once again an under-par score of 236 all-out gave us a lead of just 201.

Day 3 Evening/Day 4: Lucas removed Walters for 5 leaving Glamorgan 9-1 at the start of day 4. Almost immediately both North (5) and Allenby (6) also fell to the left arm seamer to put us in a relatively strong position as they limped to 104-4 at lunch thanks to James and Goodwin. However, once they fell for 36 and 34 respectably Glamorgan completely collapsed to end on 149 all-out and we win by 52 runs!



Fantastic win considering the circumstances and how poorly we batted.

Batting award: Moeen Ali top scored throughout both innings so is the most obvious choice.

Bowling award: Gareth Andrew won man of the match with his 4 wickets in the first innings as well as taking 2 more in the second.

[C.Turner]

Hampshire v Worcestershire

We went with the same side that beat Glamorgan despite the poor batting performances. Sadly the fact of the matter is I don't have anyone else to bring in. With only two openers in first-class Cricket in the side I once again had to rely on Mitchell and Pardoe. I don't hold much hope for this game, Hampshire are a good side and it's going to need a good performance to beat them.



Day 1: On a batting track we made it to 108-2 at Lunch. Pardoe (32) and Samaraweera (11) the victims followed by 190-3 by Tea after some slow scoring, with Ali (6) falling. We got to 298-5 at the end of the day. Mitchell made a seasons best 80 with the youngest Dowland making 48. Kervezee's performance is also encouraging, sitting on 83*.

Day 2: With some help from a quickfire 36 from Gareth Andrew and Kervezee reaching 125, we got to a good score of 416 all out on the stroke of Lunch. As predicted, Hampshire were tough to crack, reaching 97-0 by Tea. McKenzie was finally removed for 60 by Lucas but Hampshire still advanced to 228-4 at the end of the day with Adams making 92 and Carberry unbeaten on 44.

Day 3: White was the only batsman to fall as they reached 347-5. It wasn't looking good for a positive result. Hopefully we can grind out a draw at this rate. As we edged towards tea we finally managed to find a way through the order, however still made 440 all out with Carberry top scoring with 115 and Shantry the pick of the bowlers with 4-64. Sadly, the evening session was absolutely disastrous for us. We scrambled to just 132-7 with Ali top scoring with just 29.

Day 4: Andrew soon fell for the same score and the tail soon collapsed with Lucas remaining unbeaten on 14 and we reached an incredibly poor 156 all out, giving us a lead of 132. I had little hope at this stage, with Hampshire having more than two session to chase it down, however conditions did favor bowling. By midway through the afternoon session Hampshire had won, losing just three wickets in the process. Chris Wood's bowling in the second innings was devastating and ultimately cost us victory. However there is no doubt our batting wasn't up to par.



Batting award: Alexei Kervezee's efforts in our first innings was crucial and fantastic.

Bowling award: Nobody was outstanding but Jack Shantry was the pick of the lot.

[C.Turner]

Oxford UCCE v Worcestershire

As this game doesn't really count for a lot I won't go in to full details eg. screenshots etc I will just post a general update.

We made two changes, bringing in RAF bowler Graeme Cessford for veteran Alan Richardson and WK Michael Johnson for youngster Tom Fell. As the rest of the team, especially the batsmen, needed to find form I didn't change the top six.

Winning the toss, we had a bowl seeing as the conditions favored it. We tore through the order and bowled them out for 121, with Shantry and Andrew both taking four wickets a piece. Thanks to a magnificent 159* by Dowland we fought to 342 all out whilst Andrew and Johnson also chipped in giving us a lead of 221.

They were duly dispatched for 109 all out, with everybody taking wickets but Cessford leading with 3.

Batting award: Dowland batted tremendously in the first innings, he's showed the reason why has the highest average at the County at the moment.

Bowling award: Shantry took 6 wickets in the game and went for the fewest runs. Having a left arm medium pacer is a bit different to most and seems to work to his advantage.

[C.Turner]

Challenge trophy - Sussex v Worcestershire

We began our challenge trophy season with a trip to Sussex. I decided to drop Pardoe whom, as well as a lack of runs, is also a defensive player. In his place I brought in young Aneesh Kapil who can whack it about a bit and bowl a few overs if needed.

Their line up doesn't particularly frighten me, they have a decent top four or five but don't bat very far down which hopefully will go in our favor. Sussex's bowling attack is sharp though so we will have to play well to win.



We lost the toss and had to bowl. It started brilliantly when Lucas removed Prior (1) and Hamilton-Brown (12) early on but Sussex progressed well thanks to Joyce (51) who was then duly supported by Edwards (36) and Khan who scored a quickfire unbeaten 33 as they reached 188-7 off their 40 overs.

Sadly the batting collapsed completely and we managed just 122 all out. Johnson was the only player to make a decent contribution with 33 as we tried to preserve some wickets. Despite the fact conditions favored bowling it was still a terrible performance.



Batting award: Johnson, for being the only player to contribute.

Bowling award: Lucas took some crucial wickets early on.

[C.Turner]

Worcestershire v Leicestershire

Back to the County Championship now at home to what must be considered one of the weaker sides in the Division. After a relatively good start we must continue our decent form in the longer format games.

We brought in Brett D'Oliveira, son of Damian D'Oliveira, to add a further spinning option as well as a useful batsman as well as Graeme Cessford for Kapil and Alan Richardson whilst sticking with Mitchell and Ali opening the batting.



Day 1: We won the toss and decided to have a bat, reaching 90 without loss at Lunch. Ali fell for 59 and Kervezee (14) not long afterwards, as we continued our slow but steady progress to 173-2. Mitchell (96) fell just short of a century but Samaraweera (76*) and Dowland (38*) led us to a good 310-3.

Day 2: Day 2 didn't start well as Dowland was caught for 40 and Samaraweera bowled for 90 shortly after. The rest of the order completely collapsed and we made 358 all out before Lunch. The day went disastrously with Leicestershire reaching 270-2 with only O'Brien (92) and Thornley (51) falling.

Day 3: Leicestershire continued their advance and made their way to 380-5 at Lunch and avoided a Worcestershire-esque collapse. However we did remove Sarwan (102) and Thakor (103). With Robson on 81 not out, Leicestershire declared just before tea at 501-8, giving them a lead of 143. Ali (33) was the only casualty as we begun our 2nd innings, reaching 116-1 by the end of the day.

Day 4: A draw was looking the most likely result as we reached 210-2 at Lunch with Mitchell (81) falling. Kervezee (82) and Samaraweera (40) fell in the afternoon session and we reached tea at 323-4, with a lead of 180. I decided to declare at 352-5 with the ridiculously slim chance of taking some wickets after Johnson was trapped LBW for 37. Cessford took 2 wickets as Leicestershire finished the day 67-3, which at least gained us another bowling point.



Batting award: Man of the match and captain Daryl Mitchell helped with two good scores.

Bowling award: I can't bring myself to give this to anyone they were all so useless at getting a breakthrough.

[C.Turner]

Challenge Trophy - Worcestershire v Nottinghamshire

Back to the limited overs stuff now. We made one change from the side that drew with Leicestershire by bringing back Alan Richardson for Brett D'Oliveira. Thankfully Notts do not appear to have their full batting attack and their bowling is rather hit and miss.



We won the toss and decided to have a bowl, seeing as the constant sun should improve the batting conditions later on and speed up the field.

Notts Innings: Our opening bowlers couldn't get a breakthrough but Shantry removed Wessels for a run-a-ball 33 in the first change whilst Cessford got Hales for 23. Taylor and Patel were piling on the runs until Taylor was trapped LBW for 75 by Richardson. Patel (70), Mullaney (0), Kelsall (7) and Shazhad (14) all also fell before the end with Read unbeaten on 31. 261-7 was a great score and was going to be very difficult to reach.

Worcestershire Innings: An absolute shambles of a reply by Worcestershire is barely worth writing about. Dowland and Samaraweera both notched decent scores whilst the rest of the batting collapsed completely. 126 all out, completely useless. Oh dear.



Batting award: Dowland scored his runs in fewer balls.

Bowling award: Shantry took the four wickets but, as is the case with everyone else, was extremely expensive.

[C.Turner]

C/T Kent v Worcestershire

Our, what can so far only be described as abysmal, challenge trophy season continues as we visit Kent. As far as decent teams go, I would seriously say we can win this one. Kent have a few decent players but nobody that overly scares me. Seeing as I have no other batting options the top order remains unchanged, whilst seamer Richard Jones comes in for Graeme Cessford.



Winning the toss we had a bat.

Worc Innings: So...Where to start. Ali (12) and Kervezee (8) did not chip in much. Mitchell (30) batted well until he played inside a leg side ball. Samaraweera (49) and Dowland (33*) added some stability but scoring was slow whilst the rest of the batsman failed. 159-7 would be very difficult to defend.

Kent Innings: A good start for us as we removed Key (4) and Nash (2) early on. Powell, who was dropped on 4, only made 17. The dangerous Northeast scored 25 and things were looking good for our first win at 58-5 after 16 overs. Coles (31*) and Davies (22) proved tough opposition and they made just 119 all out, our first win!



Batting award: Samaraweera scored what proved to be the winning runs. He's been good this season, but not as good as you would hope an overseas player to be.

Bowling award: Richard Jones took a 4-fer and will definitely be keeping his place.

[C.Turner]

CC Kent vs Worcestershire

Back to the County Championship. We made one change, bringing in Cessford for Richardson who's been a bit disappointing so far this season. I won't post the teams because of the lack of changes from the previous game as Kent brought in Ben Harmison for Fenton.

We won the toss and will bat.

Day One: We reached just 83-1 at Lunch with Ali (22) the loss. By tea we had rocketed to 211-4. Mitchell (77), Samaraweera (38) and Kervezee (51) all contributing. At the end of the day we were on 325-8 with only Dowland (36) and Andrew (32) offering much effort in the middle order.

Day Two: Lucas finished unbeaten on 26 as we finished on 352 all out, decent but not amazing. In reply Kent reached Lunch at 65-0 and by tea 176-2 thanks in large to Key (55) and Northeast (54). It was increasingly looking difficult as Kent reached 293-2 by the end of the day - Nash (73*) and Powell (82*).

Day Three: By Lunch Kent were 441-8 with Stevens finally falling for 75 whilst Nash (92) and Powell (87) also fell short of a century. However, they fell to 452 all out with Andrew (4) and Ali (3) in the wickets, giving them a lead of 100. Our reply was awful, falling to 85-5 by Tea, with only Mitchell (30) contributing respectably. We scraped to 192-8 by the end of the day thanks to Lucas (44*).

Day Four: Lucas finally fell for 65, ending at 226 all out and a lead of 126 with over two and a half sessions remaining. They were 49-1 by Lunch and won comfortably at 129-2 with Key (73) and Nash (44*) leading them to victory.



Batting award: Daryl Mitchell batted well in the first innings and at least contributed in the second.

Bowling award: Gareth Andrew took 5 wickets in the match.

Championship state: After five games we're 4th, with 2 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw, on 58 points.

[faizangmc]

nice presentation

[C.Turner]

nice presentation

Thank you, I try.

[C.Turner]

CC Worcestershire v Gloucestershire

I was incredibly tempted to bring in Matt Pardoe for this game. He is the only batsman playing in the 2nd team with a respectable average. Kervezee for now keeps his place. Gloucestershire's side is most definitely beatable; their bowling attack is strong but I am not overly impressed by their batting line up.



Day One: We won the toss and decided to bat, reaching 96-1 by Lunch with Ali (34) departing followed by 212-1 by Tea - everything going remarkably well. Kervezee fell for 66 but we advanced to 305-2 at the end of the day. Captain Mitchell (144*) and Samaraweera (43*) at the crease.

Day Two: Losing a few wickets, we dropped to 396-6 by Lunch. Mitchell finally gave way on 171 whilst Samaraweera added a couple. Dowland (27) and Johnson (3) also lost their wickets. Andrew (39), Lucas (47) and Jones (43) all contributed well for the lower order as we ended up on 522 all out just before Tea. At the end of the day Gloucestershire reached 109-3. Cockbain was unbeaten on 52* whilst Andrew had taken two wickets.

Day Three: My prediction about Gloucestershire's week batting line up was proving to be correct as by Lunch they had collapsed to 202-9. Cockbain made 83 but nobody else offered much defence apart from a couple of 20-odds. Soon after Lunch it was over, 203 all out and we enforce the follow-on. Despite a solid start, Gloucestershire staggered to 74-3 by Tea and their demise was on the horizon followed by 150-8 after Richard Jones had taken a 5-fer.

Day Four: Game over. Fuller retired hurt and whilst Norwell blocked out as many as he could he finally fell for 3 and Gloucestershire were 174 all out.



Batting award: Mitchell batted brilliantly.

Bowling award: Jones is a touch on the expensive side but again proved his worth with a 5-fer and two wickets in the first innings.