D'Oliveira leads another Pears rally against Bears

Since coming back from injury, Brett D'Oliveira has had knocks of 87, 63, 51 and 76

Vitality County Championship Division One, Worcester (day one)

Worcestershire 294-8: D'Oliveira 76, Hose 53; Hannon-Dalby 3-61

Warwickshire: Yet to bat

Worcestershire 1 pt, Warwickshire 2 pts

Match scorecard

Worcestershire just about edged the opening day of their Midlands derby with Warwickshire as they batted out a full 96 overs to move within six runs of a second batting point on 294-8.

Home captain Brett D'Oliveira (76) and Matthew Waite (53) both hit half-centuries as the Pears again enjoyed a spirited rally in their penultimate home game of the season.

After recovering brilliantly from 10-4 in their previous game, when they beat Essex at Chelmsford, this time they were 67-4 just before lunch - before D'Oliveira was again the chief architect of their recovery.

While he hit his sixth half-century of the summer - and fourth in successive innings - Waite's came on his return to the Pears side for the first time in seven weeks after a side strain.

Their efforts were then bolstered by a ninth-wicket stand of 52 between Tom Taylor and teenager Jack Home, on his first-class debut.

While Worcestershire old boy Ed Barnard and Michael Rae each claimed two wickets, the main Bears threat was once again Olly Hannon-Dalby.

The country's leading wicket taker - looking to claim 50 scalps for the third year running - added three more to extend his tally to 46.

After being put in by Warwickshire, three wickets went down in little more than an hour as Hannon-Dalby had Jake Libby caught behind, Barnard removed Kashif Ali the same way and Gareth Roderick was trapped leg before by Michael Rae.

And a fourth wicket then went down just before lunch when Hannon-Dalby earned an LBW decision against former Bear Ethan Brookes.

After a disciplined knock off 32 from 89 balls by Adam Hose, he departed against his former club just after lunch, well caught at second slip by Rob Yates, diving to his right.

But the hosts again showed resistance when it mattered most, as D'Oliveira shared stands of 76 with Waite and a further 43 with Logan Van Beek.

D'Oliveira then gave Yates a second catch, at slip, when he edged Will Rhodes, before Van Beek perished to the new ball, a third neat pouch for Yates, the country's top catcher, his 27th in red-ball cricket in 2024 .

But ninth-wicket pair Taylor (33) and Home (20) were not done for the day with a half-century stand, including a six for each - the first two of the innings.

And Home's, slapped over midwicket off fellow former Shrewsbury School and Shropshire man Barnard, would given him particular personal pleasure.

The sun shone for a fair bit of a fairly well supported day at Worcester