da bet7k： Worcestershire seamers Matt Mason and Alan Richardson dismissedNorthamptonshire for their lowest County Championship total of the season as17 wickets fell on the second day at New Road
30-Jul-2010
ScorecardWorcestershire seamers Matt Mason and Alan Richardson dismissedNorthamptonshire for their lowest County Championship total of the season as17 wickets fell on the second day at New Road.The experienced pair – Mason at 36 and Richardson a year younger – made themost of favourable conditions in claiming six of the dismissals at a miserlycost of 62 runs in 40.4 overs. Worcestershire’s batsmen then took their turn to struggle on a seaming pitchwhen crashing to 72 for 8 – a lead of 201 – after Lee Daggett’s livelyopening salvo of 4 for 25 in 10 overs.Northamptonshire only dodged the follow-on thanks to a couple of droppedchances when David Murphy (26) and David Lucas (24) put on 43 before Richardsonaccounted for the tail-end pair in six balls.Finally bowled out for 158, the visitors were still in a tight corner, trailingby 129, but Daggett kept them in the game with his best performance in twoseasons for his third county. The former Warwickshire and Leicestershire bowler landed a double blow in thespace of nine deliveries. First he removed Daryl Mitchell, brilliantly caught byJames Middlebrook at backward point, and next he had Vikram Solanki taken atsecond slip by Stephen Peters.With David Wheeldon and Moeen Ali also falling in an inspired spell,Worcestershire were rocking at 43 for 5 when Shakib Al Hasan played on toLucas.Alexei Kervezee (24) fell to Andrew Hall and with the light fading prior to anearly closure because of rain off-spinner Middlebrook played an influential partwith 2 for 11. There was an extra problem for the batsmen as the bounce became steeper on theunpredictable surface.Resuming at three for one, Northamptonshire lost Middlebrook to a catch behindthe wicket in a testing opening spell by Mason and the pressure built up asRichardson’s figures showed only three scoring shots after 11 overs. Ben Howgego succumbed when Richard Jones ran out the opener from mid-on and Mason found some extra lift when David Sales registered his fourth duck in six Championship innings.Alex Wakely (20) and Rob Newton, with a promising knock of 23 on his debut,steadied the ship for a while before medium-pacer James Cameron bagged the firsttwo wickets of his four-match Championship career. Elton Chigumbura quickly fell to another rising delivery from Mason and Northamptonshire’s last hope appeared to have gone when Richardson pounced fromshort mid-wicket to run out Hall for 28.Murphy atoned for his part in going for a dodgy single with four fours and thefollow-on threat disappeared in an erratic over from Jones. Shakib dropped Lucasat point and the next four balls went to the boundary – three of these off thepads for a dozen leg byes.