Worcs day 1: half day at Stockton

By Jon Steer
May 14 2003

New injuries to Hatch, Plunkett and Pretorius mean that the bowling attack is now in a weakened state along with the batting! What can we do against Worcs? Would playing at Stockton bring us good fortune?

Well, the day didn't start well with losing the toss and having to bowl first on what looked like a showery day.

The team was showing the effects of injuries with Gordon Muchall playing his first championship game of the season and only three full time bowlers playing - Harmy, Srinath and Philipps. Wells and Law would have to bowl well or we would be in the field for a long time...

Harmy made an excellent start to his spell with four maidens and with Srinath also showing a tight line Worcs were struggling to score. Singh was starting to look like he was getting in when he was run out with the score on 18. This brought Graeme Hick out to the middle and with the opening spells finished Worcs took thier frustrations out on the first change pair of Law and Wells and the runs started to come very easily.

Law made the important breakthrough when Hick was caught by Nicky Philipps for 30. Opener Peters and captain Ben Smith carried on scoring well before Harmy struck, trapping Peters lbw for 62 with the score on 149.

Soon after lunch the rain that had been threatening all morning halted play and that was the end of it for the first day. Pretty well balanced, I think. If we can pick up a few wickets early tomorrow then we could have the advantage. With a stronger batting line up than for the early games we should be able to post a big score as long as the bowlers can take the wickets...