County Championship: Joe Clarke impresses against Warwickshire

Shrewsbury-born Clarke made six against Hampshire in his only previous Championship innings

Worcestershire teenager Joe Clarke made his first County Championship half-century as bowlers dominated on day one of the derby game against Warwickshire.

The 19-year-old hit nine fours before falling to Boyd Rankin for exactly 50.

He helped Joe Leach to add 53 after the home side had slid from 104-1 to 126-5, including England's Moeen Ali, caught at midwicket off Keith Barker (4-65).

Worcestershire were all out for 243, Warwickshire replying with 101-4 at stumps, with Ian Bell 46 not out.

Chris Wright went into the game needing two wickets to reach 300 in first-class cricket and reached that milestone before lunch by removing Richard Oliver and home skipper Daryl Mitchell.

But the Worcestershire innings went off the rails following the restart when Tom Fell was bowled offering no shot to a ball from Barker, Alex Gidman was caught behind down the leg side and Moeen, hoping to find his best form ahead of the Ashes series, chipped a catch to mid-wicket.

Clarke, making only his second Championship appearance, met the situation with positive intent, collecting nine fours as he reached his half-century off 58 balls, but only faced three more before being caught by Jonathan Trott

Barker cleaned up the tail to take his tally for the season to 25 wickets, but Warwickshire's bowlers were not backed up by their batsmen.

Ateeq Javid was first to go, before Varun Chopra, Trott, caught at first slip for a three-ball duck, and Laurie Evans went in the space of nine deliveries.

The impressive Leach claimed 3-23, but Bell and Tim Ambrose (31 not out) shared an unbroken stand of 66 before the close.

Worcestershire director of cricket Steve Rhodes:

"It was looking good at lunchtime but obviously we would have liked to get more runs on the board.

"We were happy to get four wickets later and hopefully we can make some more inroads on Monday.

"It didn't look a 14-wickets pitch at the start, and I don't think it was. I think there has been some batting that has been a little bit sloppy."

Warwickshire bowler Keith Barker:

"It wasn't easy at first. Looking at it, we were quite happy to get them out for what we did.

"It was the kind of wicket where if you were slightly off target, they could score runs. The outfield is quite slow and boundaries were not that easy to find.

"If the sun comes out on Monday hopefully it will be a bit easier for our batsmen."