Worcestershirev Essex
Rothesay County Championship
Visit Worcestershire New Road, Worcester
Friday 16 – Monday 19 May 2025 | 11am start
Team News
Essex: Dean Elgar, Charlie Allison, Tom Westley (c), Robin Das, Matt Critchley, Michael Pepper (wk), Noah Thain, Simon Harmer, Shane Snater, Kasun Rajitha, Jamie Porter.
Worcestershire: Jake Libby, Gareth Roderick (wk), Henry Nicholls, Kashif Ali, Rob Jones, Brett D’Oliveria (c), Matthew Waite, Ethan Brookes, Tom Taylor, Ben Allison, Yadvinder Singh.
Match Details
Umpires: Ian Blackwell & Graham Lloyd
Match Referee: Alec Swann
Scorers: Sue Drinkwater & Paul Parkinson
Toss: Essex won the toss and elected to bowl
Result: Worcestershire won by 225 runs
Day Three Reaction
Day Three Highlights
Day Three Report
Essex suffered a 225-run defeat to Worcestershire in Round 8 of the Rothesay County Championship as Matthew Waite’s career best figures propelled Worcestershire to a three-day victory. The home side rallied to 134 all out at Visit Worcestershire New Road, with Ethan Brookes’ 38, the standout knock, setting Essex 336 to win the game.
Worcestershire’s crucial victory keeps them in touch of the sides around them as the scrap in the bottom-half of Division One continues. After resuming Day Three on 58-5, the hosts began the morning session looking to add to their overnight lead of 259.
Essex capitalised on a slow Worcestershire start however, with Simon Harmer and Shane Snater sharing three wickets inside the first hour to reduce the hosts to 80-8. This brought Ethan Brookes to the crease, who, with a canny supporting role from Matthew Waite, eased their way into proceedings. Brookes (38) expressed himself, as those in Worcestershire colours cheered every run added, as together they stretched the lead past 300.
Evergreen pro Harmer (21-5-37-4) returned the best figures for his outfit, alongside Porter who collected two for himself, as the home side closed out their innings on 134. Set an unlikely 336 to win, Essex’s chase fell apart, as they lost five top order wickets for the loss of just 47 runs.
Charlie Allison and Noah Thain shared the highest score with 23, but on a dismal Essex card, only two other batters could muster double-figures as they were bundled out for a measly 110.
Dean Elgar was the first to go for just nine, as he feathered an edge through to keeper Gareth Roderick off a rising Ben Allison ball. Just one run separated the wicket of Elgar and his opening partner Allison, when the impressive Waite accounted for his wicket in the same fashion.
Tom Westley was pinned in front by a nip-backer from Singh, and the Worcestershire bowlers tightened their grip further on the contest when Waite extended his fine form to remove Robin Das, who had failed to trouble the scorers for a ten-ball duck. When Waite bagged his sixth wicket of the match, the away side were left spiralling towards a heavy defeat, with Michael Pepper accounted for at 47-5.
Only two-overs into his spell, a loose Matt Critchley drive opened the door for Brookes to sneak through and grab a faint edge on the way through to the gloves of Roderick, with a delivery that jagged back enough to ensure his keeper collected his eighth catch of the match. Waite, the stand-out performer across the match, grabbed the headlines as he collected the wickets of Snater, Harmer and Porter on his way to returning career best match figures of 9-53.
The crucial victory for Worcestershire closes the gap on the rest of the pack around them at the basement of the Division One table, while Essex will make the journey home knowing a trip to The Oval awaits them on Friday.
Day Two Interview
Day Two Highlights
Day Two Report
Worcestershire’s seam bowlers produced their best performance of the season to blow away Essex’s batters and put them in complete control on Day Two at Visit Worcestershire New Road.
In a clinical bowling display, wickets were shared amongst the pace bowlers, with Tom Taylor’s 15-over spell of 3-23 the standout performance.
Robin Das top scored with resilient 44, but when he was dismissed by Matthew Waite, Essex were up against it, and were eventually bundled out for 157.
The home side navigated the final session to reach 58-5 at the close and put themselves firmly in the driving seat heading into Day Three.
After wrapping up the Worcestershire innings with just four added to the overnight score, Essex were immediately pegged in reply back as Ben Allison castled his brother, Charlie, without a run being scored.
Skipper, Tom Westley, could only make six before he was caught behind off Tom Taylor, as the Worcestershire opening bowlers enjoyed early success in idyllic bowling conditions at Visit Worcestershire New Road.
Dean Elgar and Robin Das dug in, until the former South African opener succumbed to a sensational catch by Ethan Brookes, who at third slip, dived low to his left and held onto a blinding one-handed take to reduce the visitors to 46-3 as lunch approached.
In a similar vein to the day one, the ball continued to dominate the bat for large parts of the morning session, with Taylor proving the most frugal of Worcestershire’s bowlers.
Das continued to graft hard, rallying for his side with a watchful innings, latching onto any rare loose deliveries.
Matt Critchley then departed for 15, when he edged a rising ball behind into the gloves of Gareth Roderick, leaving Essex 75-4 and up against it.
The off-side fielders were kept busy in the early exchanges of the afternoon, with the ball unable to puncture in the infield, as Waite, Taylor and Singh bowled in tandem to build pressure and restrict their opponents scoring.
Michael Pepper became Taylor’s third wicket of the innings when he fell cheaply and was followed soon after by Das (44), when Waite found his outside edge.
Essex brought up their 100 in the 43rd over of the day, but by this point were in the face of a home side’s bowling entourage on top of their game and pressing hard for their seventh wicket and beyond.
Brookes then joined the action to break the 19-run partnership for the seventh-wicket, before Singh was rewarded for a controlled spell, giving keeper Roderick his fourth catch of the day behind the stumps as Snater exited with his side still 211 runs adrift.
Thain was bowled and Porter caught behind three balls later, both off the bowling of Waite, bringing an end to an underwhelming batting display that totalled just 157.
The Chelmsford-based side showed signs of a fightback when they removed Roderick and Nicholls in quick succession, before Libby was given out LBW for 10 late on.
Simon Harmer dealt the home side a late double-blow when he trapped both Kashif Ali (31) and Ben Allison (0), but Rob Jones and Yadvinder Singh, batted through safely to stumps, with a 259 run lead and five wickets intact.
Day One Interview
Day One Highlights
Day One Report
A stubborn batting display dragged Worcestershire in front after Essex’s bowlers looked to have taken control of proceedings on Day One of the Rothesay County Championship at Visit Worcestershire New Road.
Shane Snater led the way for the visitors early on, returning figures of 3-60 from his 18 overs, as he and his bowling unit had the hosts on the ropes at 123-5.
Rob Jones provided the most resistance as his half-century underpinned a gritty batting display from the hosts, as the loss of regular wickets thwarted any momentum throughout the afternoon.
A crucial eighth-wicket partnership between Matthew Waite and Tom Taylor however, changed the context of the day late on and drove the home side into a healthy position heading into Day Two, as they reached 354-9 at stumps.
After winning the toss and electing to field, Essex didn’t wait long before forcing their first breakthrough of the morning when Shane Snater trapped Gareth Roderick LBW for 17, before New-Zealand International Henry Nicholls departed soon after without scoring after nicking an attempted leave behind from a lively Kasun Rajitha delivery.
On a wicket tinged with green that kept the bowlers interested throughout the morning session, it was the visiting side’s seam attack that continued their line of questioning with Jake Libby given a stern test of his defensive credentials throughout the morning session as the hosts brought up their fifty without any further casualties.
The spring was in the step of the Essex attack however, and it wasn’t long before 20-year-old Noah Thain ensured Essex headed into lunch with the upper hand, when the right arm seamer wheeled away in delight after drawing Libby forward with an enticing delivery that moved away just enough, to catch his edge and leave the Division One strugglers 67-3.
Although wicketless in his opening spell, England hopeful Jamie Porter continued to mount pressure, with a switch of ends later in the morning not deterring from his unrelenting line and length, beating the bat on multiple occasions.
It was to no avail however, as the hosts made it to lunch with seven-wickets intact and 84 runs on the board.
Kashif Ali and Robert Jones came together and looked to provide some much-needed middle order stability by adding 61 for the fifth wicket, before a Snater delivery jagged back and stayed low to castle Ali for 46, and shortly after removed Brett D’Oliveira to put his side firmly in control.
The paceman had his tail up and carried his eye-catching form into the afternoon session as he and his fellow seamers gave nothing away to a side seemingly low on confidence trying to mount a reasonable first innings score.
Ethan Brookes joined Jones and took the attack to the bowlers, but Porter brought an end to proceedings when he had him caught behind for a well-made 45 ball 31.
The combination of a slow outfield and a pitch offering just enough to perk their interests, the Essex attack rotated seamlessly to take wickets at regular intervals.
There was time for Jones to raise his bat as he reached his 50 milestone, but when he departed ten balls later, Worcestershire looked anxiously at their tail in hopes of a late rearguard.
Matthew Waite (73) and Tom Taylor (43), then came together and dug deep to swing the momentum right back in the home side’s favour, as their partnership of 95 for the eighth-wicket left the Pears feeling the happier of the two sides at Stumps on Day One.
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