Bears edging Pears derby despite Duffy haul
Rothesay County Championship Division One, Visit Worcestershire New Road, Worcester (day three)Warwickshire 227 & 280: Hain 87*, Woakes 42; Duffy 5-75Worcestershire 181 & 57-2: Roderick 34*Worcestershire (3pts) trail Warwickshire (3pts) by 269 runs with eight wickets remainingMatch scorecard
Sam Hain's second highly-skilled innings of the match left Warwickshire well-placed to press for victory over Worcestershire in the County Championship derby at Visit Worcestershire New Road.Hain followed his first innings 86 with an unbeaten 87 (174 balls) as Warwickshire took their second innings to 280 to set the home side 327 to win.Chris Woakes supported Hain with 42, during which he passed 10,000 runs in all formats, while Jacob Duffy took 5-75.Worcestershire closed the third day on 54-2 and face a huge batting challenge on the final day when they must make much the biggest score of the match to win it.Warwickshire resumed on the third morning day on 53-1, already 99 ahead, and soon lost Tom Latham who edged an aggressive shot at Tom Taylor to wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick. Rob Yates eked out a valuable 29 from 112 balls before falling lbw, hit on the back pad, by Ben Allison. Beau Webster paid the price for going on the back foot on a pitch sometimes keeping low when Duffy flattened his leg stump.That was 86-4 and Worcestershire were clawing their way back into the match but the excellent Hain unfurled his second crucial innings of the contest and received important support from the middle and lower orders. Ed Barnard (30) added impetus before top-edging Matthew Waite to third man. Zen Malik helped Hain add 30 and, after he sliced Duffy to point and Kai Smith pulled Allison to long leg, Woakes arrived – not a bad player to have coming in at nine.The eighth-wicket pair added 67 in 21 overs, lifting Worcestershire's target over 300, before Woakes edged Taylor to slip. Duffy completed his five-for with wickets from successive balls when Ethan Bamber hit his wicket from the follow through from a pull and Chris Rushworth edged to slip.Rushworth wasted no time before inflicting damage with the ball when he knocked out Jake Libby's off-stump with an out-swinger. Six balls later, Henry Nicholls copped a tough lbw decision when he appeared to be struck outside the line of off-stump by Woakes.That was 25-2 and, with 27 overs left in the day Warwickshire fancied their chances of making match-clinching inroads before stumps. Batting remained a serious test of concentration and technique but Roderick and Kashif Ali negotiated 12 overs before bad light lopped off the last 15.An intriguing final day beckons with an additional factor from some rain in the forecast. Warwickshire remain strong favourites to bank a win which would owe most to Hain whose high-class batting in this match was worthy of two centuries.Report supplied by the ECB Reporters' Network, supported by Rothesay
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
29 minutes ago
- Times
Dave Brailsford steps back at Man United in Jim Ratcliffe's Ineos reshuffle
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is planning a major reshuffle that will lead to Sir Dave Brailsford reducing his commitment to Manchester United to return to his director of sport role for Ineos and Geraint Thomas taking a senior leadership position at the professional cycling team when he retires as a rider at the end of this season. Brailsford stood down as team principal of Ineos Grenadiers when Ratcliffe purchased his minority stake in Manchester United and took charge of football operations, and has dedicated more than a year to implementing change at the Premier League club. The season has ended in frustration and disappointment, with United finishing the campaign under Ruben Amorim in 15th, their worst Premier League finish, and failing to secure a back-door route into the Champions League after losing the Europa League final to Tottenham Hotspur last month. Even so, 61-year-old Brailsford is credited by the British billionaire with overhauling the performance set-up at United, the £50million redevelopment of the club's Carrington training ground and drawing up his Mission 21 plan for a 21st league title and a first championship for the women's team. While Ratcliffe has reduced his overall investment in sport over the past few months, terminating his sponsorship of the All Blacks and an advertising deal with Tottenham while also ending his pursuit of the America's Cup, he remains committed to his cycling team, even if they too hope to secure a new joint-sponsor in another petrochemicals firm, TotalEnergies. The failure of United to secure European football next season also means the French club comes out of trust — originally placed there to comply with Uefa ownership rules — and returns to being the responsibility of the Ineos Sport's team. Brailsford leads that unit and Ratcliffe wants him to return to his former role so that he can oversee that transition as well as revive some of his focus on cycling by supporting the Ineos Grenadiers management team of John Allert, the chief executive, and performance director Scott Drawer. The former British Cycling boss will play a role in helping Thomas make the transition from athlete to team management. Ratcliffe is known to be an admirer of the 39-year-old, having got to know him well as fellow residents in Monaco. He sees the 2018 Tour de France winner and double Olympic champion, who has announced he will retire after the Tour of Britain in September, as leadership material and wants Brailsford to help groom him for such a role. In an interview with Cycling News during the recent Giro d'Italia, Drawer said: 'We'd be crazy not to think about Geraint being part of the team in the future. Geraint's got unique skills that we don't have. We'd like to tap into what Geraint knows. He's got huge respect and credibility in the sport. He's the current team captain and plays a big role in that.'
Daily Mail
30 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Man United 'made contact' with Aston Villa's Emi Martinez, Argentina media claims... with Ruben Amorim in the market for a goalkeeper this summer after Andre Onana's difficult season
Manchester United reportedly made contact with Aston Villa over signing goalkeeper Emi Martinez in the winter transfer window. United, who endured a miserable campaign, finishing in 15th and missing out on European football for just the second time in 35 years, were looking to bolster their squad ahead of a difficult second half of the season. Current shot-stopper Andre Onana made a number of high-profile errors throughout the campaign and was eventually dropped by Ruben Amorim for United's clash against Newcastle in April. And the Cameroonian's inconsistent form saw the Red Devils turn their attention towards the Argentine. Amorim's side contacted Villa about a move for Martinez in the January transfer window but eventually decided to keep faith in Onana, according to Argentine outlet TyC Sports. That decision may have cost United, with Onana's form failing to pick up in the second half of the season. The 29-year-old made a series of errors, including two in a 2-2 draw against Lyon in the first leg of their crucial Europa League quarter-final. It came after Onana had been involved in a war of words with former United - and now Lyon - midfielder Matic. Matic had taken exception to Onana claiming Lyon are a 'very good team' but that 'I think we are better than them', branding the shot-stopper 'one of the worst goalkeepers in Man United history'. Onana's words came back to haunt him as he made mistakes for both Lyon goals and he was jeered by the French side's supporters throughout the game. His poor form culminated in being replaced by Altay Bayinidir, who made his own clanger during United's 4-1 loss to Newcastle. TYC Sports also claim that United will be interested in Martinez if he leaves Villa this summer. The Argentine, who was named the Best Fifa Men's Goalkeeper for the second time in three years in December, looks set to leave Villa Park. The 32-year-old moved to Aston Villa five years ago from Arsenal and has shone, reaching the Champions League quarter-finals this season. He appeared to bid farewell to Villa fans and was in tears during their final home game, a 2-0 win over Tottenham, last month. He was then sent off in the final Premier League game of the season - a 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford which saw Villa miss out on the Champions League to Newcastle. Asked about his future ahead of Argentina's upcoming World Cup qualifiers, Martinez said: 'I don't know, I come here to play for the national team, and that's the only thing that matters to me right now.
The Guardian
41 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Premier League opts not to change rules that helped Chelsea comply with PSR
Premier League teams have chosen not to change controversial rules that allow the sale of fixed assets to companies related to a club's ownership. Despite discontent among some clubs over the rules, which have helped Chelsea to meet profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) by selling two Stamford Bridge hotels to businesses linked to their owners, no vote was taken on changing them at the league's annual general meeting in Harrogate on Wednesday. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion Under current rules clubs can sell assets to related companies and include the revenue in PSR calculations the following season as long as the deals are seen to have been conducted at fair market value. Chelsea's hotel sales were ultimately cleared by the Premier League after a lengthy assessment which concluded earlier this year. The process led to the value of the deal being restated, however, at £70.5m in Chelsea's latest accounts, down from an original £76.5m. The west London side have also sold their women's team to a related company at a value of almost £200m last year, helping the club record a net profit of £129.6m for the year ended 30 June 2024. The Guardian understands that the league was asked by some clubs to table an amendment that would prevent such deals from being included in PSR calculations in future. That proposal was ultimately removed from a series of votes on rule changes, however, after it became clear there was insufficient support amongst the totality of clubs to pass it. All clubs attended the AGM on Wednesday knowing there would be no vote. This is not the first occasion that clubs have stepped back from changing the rules. Alterations were discussed first in 2021, when the EFL had brought in tougher rules, and then last summer, but no vote was taken on either occasion. The sale of fixed assets cannot be included in revenue under Uefa's financial sustainability rules, however and the Blues are expected to have agree a potential financial settlement with European football's governing body as a result.
