Worcestershire v Middlesex County Championship Day Three Report

The skipper’s imperious unbeaten ton anchored his side’s total of 283, with Joe Cracknell (46) playing the most significant supporting role as the visitors kept the Pears at arm's length throughout.

Declaring with 14 overs left in the day, Worcestershire’s chase of an imposing 358 began in dreadful circumstances when Jake Libby was run out without facing a ball, quickly followed by Dan Lategan.

The hosts closed on 33-2, with Middlesex on pole, needing eight wickets on the final day to seal victory.

Sam Robson and Ben Geddes showed staunch defence to navigate their way through a testing first hour on the third morning at New Road, getting through unscathed after Tom Taylor had posed plenty of questions early on.

Middlesex cashed in, with Geddes accessing the off side boundary with growing ease as the morning went on, alleviating some pressure in the process.

The pair passed fifty with growing confidence, but it was the return of Ben Allison that proved pivotal, when a superb low catch at first slip by Henry Cullen sealed the fate of the stubborn Robson for 23.

Featuring in his first Rothesay County Championship match of the summer, the fit and firing seamer showed what his side had been missing when he grabbed a second wicket of the morning by pinning Geddes LBW.

With the door ajar, there was another twist in the tale as Ethan Brookes castled Max Holden with the final ball of the session, as Middlesex left for lunch ahead by 156 runs with seven wickets in hand.

The visitors stalled the first over into the afternoon at 83-4 as Tom Taylor ended Caleb Falconers’ brief stay at the crease with a hooping inswinger that pinned the youngster LBW.

Leus du Plooy battened down the hatches, but Worcestershire squandered the chance to take the prize wicket of the skipper, when Brookes failed to hang onto a thick edge at first slip with the batter on 26.

With Joe Cracknell bedding in, the pair eased their side back into the ascendancy with a comfortable fifty run stand in the afternoon sun at New Road, with the keeper batter playing the leg-spin of D’Oliveira with relative ease.

du Plooy notched a magnanimous fifty from 106 balls, in a two-and-a-half-hour knock of real class, but his team were pegged back once more when Harry Darley, on as an injury replacement for Adam Finch, claimed the wicket of Cracknell for 46 just five deliveries into his spell.

The seamer was making things happen, with another huge chance going begging when Bosch edged between Roderick and Brookes with neither committing to the chance, as Middlesex made it to Tea 194-5, leading by 268.

Darley struck for a second time in what had been a whirlwind afternoon when he dismissed Ethan Bosch for 16, but shortly after du Plooy moved to a fine century from 163 balls, the visitors declared on 283-6, setting Worcestershire an imposing 358 to win.

Jake Libby was left helpless when he was run out on the fifth ball of the innings as Toby Roland-Jones deflected a ball driven straight back to the non-striker's end that careered into the stumps, leaving Worcestershire 0-1.

Zafar Gohar crowned an excellent evening session with the wicket of Dan Lategan late in the day, as the visitors ended the day with a 324-run lead, needing eight wickets on day four to seal victory.

Rothesay County Championship Division Two: Day Three

Worcestershire 265 and 33-2, trail Middlesex 339 and 283-6 dec, by 324 runs