Hameed stars as Notts outplay Worcs on New Road return
- Published
Vitality County Championship Division One, Visit Worcestershire New Road (day two)
Worcestershire 80: Jones 19; Fletcher 3-18, Pennington 3-25
Nottinghamshire 234-3: Hameed 100, Clarke 73*; Smith 2-31
Nottinghamshire (3 pts) lead Worcestershire (1 pt) by 154 runs
Nottinghamshire skipper Haseeb Hameed had a day to remember as Worcestershire were outplayed on their return to action at New Road.
Worcestershire, back at their headquarters after flooding led to their first two home County Championship games with Durham and Somerset being moved to Kidderminster, were bowled out for 80 in 31.1 overs.
Manchester United fan Hameed heard of his side’s FA Cup triumph before pressing home the Notts advantage with a century in a stand of 147 with Pears old boy Joe Clarke.
Hameed reached three figures from 214 balls with nine fours before he was dismissed shortly before the close, leaving Clarke unbeaten on 73 and Nottinghamshire 234-3.
Worcestershire were left to rue dropping Hameed on 36 and Clarke before he had scored.
Groundstaff worked through the night after Friday’s washout and both teams and staff lined up for a minute’s applause for Worcestershire spinner Josh Baker, who died aged 20 three weeks ago.
Ed Pollock replaced Kashif Ali while Notts pace bowler Luke Fletcher was recalled in place of Olly Stone and soon made his mark as his former Trent Bridge colleague Jake Libby fell to a stunning slip catch by Calvin Harrison.
Another of Notts' former Pears Dillon Pennington, on his first return to his former county, knocked out Pollock’s middle stump and Harrison snagged Gareth Roderick off Fletcher, who then had Rob Jones caught behind.
Lyndon James trapped captain Brett D’Oliveira lbw, Matthew Waite edged Lyndon James to keeper Tom Moores and Adam Hose top-edged a return catch to Pennington.
Nathan Smith was lbw to Dane Paterson, who then had Joe Leach pouched by Ben Slater. Adam Finch hit Pennington for six before being caught behind off his former team-mate.
Nottinghamshire openers Hameed and Slater scored freely as the 50 came up in the 17th over.
Hameed, on 26, edged Ben Gibbon just short of second slip and a breakthrough finally came with Notts just three runs in arrears when Slater, on 41, pulled Smith straight to fine leg.
Will Young played on and Smith should have had a third wicket in three overs but Roderick dropped Clarke, while Hameed also had an escape at first slip immediately after tea.
Clarke followed him to that milestone, while Hameed went on to three figures but he did not add further to his total before falling lbw to Waite, with Luke Fletcher coming in as nightwatchman to protect Notts' other former Pear Jack Haynes for the morning.
Report supplied by the ECB Reporters' Network