County Championship: Josh Tongue bowls Worcestershire to win over Leicestershire

Josh Tongue's five-for was his ninth in first-class cricket

Worcestershire needed just five overs of the third morning to complete a 100-run victory over Leicestershire at Oakham School and move level on points in Division Two as both chase promotion in the County Championship.

All three of the wickets Worcestershire required to wrap up the job came from pace bowler Josh Tongue, who was released from the England squad at Old Trafford to rejoin his county team-mates and obliged by taking 5-29, his best return of the season, as Leicestershire were dismissed for 137, chasing 238 to win.

Dillon Pennington, who was not required to bowl a new spell, finished with 3-25 to go with his four wickets from the first innings as Worcestershire took 19 points to go level on points with Leicestershire, who began the match in second place in the table.

• County Championship Division Two table

Leicesterhire, though, want the England and Wales Cricket Board to investigate whether the visitors should face possible disciplinary action over a contentious catch during the second day's play.

Colin Ackermann was caught at third slip by Josh Baker, but believe there is "clear evidence" from video replays that the fielder grounded the ball.

Joint head coach Alfonso Thomas said there was "a lot of chat at the moment about the spirit of cricket" and Ackermann, whose dismissal left Leicestershire 38-3, should have been called back.

The win completed a double for Worcestershire over their opponents, having beaten them at New Road in May - they are the only team to beat Leicestershire so far this season.

Although it was odds-on a Worcestershire victory when Leicestershire resumed on 114-7, the home side may have reminded themselves that Chris Wright, one of the not-out batters overnight, had been one of the protagonists in the unlikely victory at Headingley that launched their season in April.

Wright contributed 40 to an unbroken eighth-wicket stand of 65 with Peter Handscomb as the Foxes chased down a target of 389 to beat Yorkshire on that occasion.

Another 124 were needed this time, which with Rehan Ahmed on 33 not out at the other end, was not beyond the realms of imagination.

The Oakham School pitch, though, has greeted every incoming batter with the thought that there would be a ball with his name on it sooner or later and it was only three deliveries into the day that Ahmed encountered his, Tongue conjuring enough deviation of the pitch to find the edge and Gareth Roderick pouching his fifth catch of the innings.

New man Callum Parkinson picked up boundaries with a couple of nice drives, but then Tongue countered by going short, a tactic that soon paid off as he fended to the leg slip placed for just that eventuality.

And it took only two more balls for Tongue to finish the job, yorking Matt Salisbury as Leicestershire were all out in exactly 40 overs.

Acting Leicestershire joint head coach Alfonso Thomas:

"I have to take my hat off to Oakham School. They have tried to accommodate us as much as they could in terms of facilities, which have been fantastic.

"The pitch was a little bit bowler friendly but that is always a risk coming to an outground. We could have started a bit better with the ball knowing what we know now, after what was a good toss to win.

"The last three innings were over in about 40 overs, compared with 68 overs in the first, which was possibly the difference. Plus we dropped seven catches in the game, which cost 122 runs.

"But when you have a low-scoring match like this, it can be a bit of a lottery as to which way it goes."

Worcestershire head coach Alan Richardson told BBC Hereford & Worcester:

"The batters can take great heart from that, because it was not a wicket you could take any confidence from. Jake Libby's contribution in the second innings was pretty impressive. No one else got a 50 in the game.

"We stuck together really well and kept up our intensity in the field. And the way Josh Tongue finished it off was clinical.

"He can get good batters out, as he showed on his Test debut, and he can make life pretty uncomfortable for batters coming in at the bottom of the order.

"People might say it was through a big contribution from Josh and Dillon Pennington that we won the match, and that these are the two that are leaving us at the end of the season."

Report supplied by ECB Reporters' Network.