County Championship Division Two: Worcestershire thrash lacklustre Leicestershire
- James Richardson
- 21 May 2022
Leicestershire continue their horror run in the County Championship as they slumped to another loss, this time away to Worcestershire who wrapped up the contest inside three days.
Leicestershire can be grateful that there is no relegation from County Championship Division Two as their miserable 2022 campaign trundles on.
Worcestershire never looked troubled in a match they dominated from start to finish with former Pakistan skipper Azhar Ali smashing a double ton for the home side.
A career Championship best return of 4 for 35 from loanee Matthew Waite helped Worcestershire complete just their second win of the campaign.
Worcestershire 577 for 6 declared (Azhar 235, Haynes 117, D'Oliveira 54, Cox 52*, Mulder 4-125) beat Leicestershire 148 (Barnard 3-45) and 170 (Hill 50, Waite 4-35, Pennington 3-30) by an innings and 259 runs.
Notts close in on victory
Nottinghamshire look set to wrap up a final day victory at Trent Bridge on Sunday having knocked over Derbyshire for the second time just before stumps on Saturday.
Overseas professional James Pattinson has proven an inspired selection as the veteran Aussie keeps picking up wickets and the Nottinghamshire seam stocks overflow.
Stuart Broad took two in the first and one in the second but it was Pattinson and fellow overseas player Dane Paterson who did the most damage.
On a sporting Trent Bridge wicket nothing is guaranteed but the hosts should back themselves to wrap up victory with just 162 further runs required.
Openers Ben Slater and Haseeb Hameed will resume their efforts first thing on Sunday.
Nottinghamshire 358 (Duckett 86, Potts 4-50, Conners 4-93) and 3 for 0 need 162 more runs to beat Derbyshire 260 and 262 (Madsen 52, Hughes 49, Hurt 49, Paterson 3-35, Pattinson 3-59).
Durham on the rocks
Fast bowler Toby Roland-Jones ripped apart Durham's top order to strengthen Middlesex's chances of pressing for victory on the final day at Lord's.
Roland-Jones claimed the scalps of the visitors' first three batters in quick succession.
The England Test bowler left Durham reeling at 18 for 3 in their second innings after Middlesex had secured a lead of 72.
That advantage was in part down to the efforts of Sam Robson - who came close to registering his third consecutive County Championship Division Two hundred but was dismissed for 84.
Durham 350 and 25 for 3 (Roland-Jones 3-7) trail Middlesex 422 (Robson 84, Holden 71, Andersson 62, Stokes 4-72, Rushworth 3-60) by 47 runs.
