Brett D’Oliveira shone on an otherwise bowler-dominated opening day of Worcestershire’s County Championship Division Two match with Middlesex at Lord’s.
While others poked, prodded and flailed, the Pears’ skipper showed grit, patience, craft and aggression to hit 75, complete with two sixes and 10 fours out of the visitors’ total of 191.
Ryan Higgins took 3-39 in the Middlesex bowling effort, while youngsters Sebastian Morgan and Naavya Sharma claimed two apiece.
D’Oliveira runs looked all the more precious as Middlesex slumped to 32-3 in reply before Max Holden and Ben Geddes steadied the ship with a stand of 54. However both fell in quick succession in the gathering gloom and Higgins too was bowled as the hosts crumbled to 91-6 by the close. Oliver Hannon-Dalby (3-26) and Tom Taylor (2-13) were the chief Worcestershire destroyers.
Middlesex opted to bowl on a green-tinged pitch and it didn’t take Morgan long to make the breakthrough.
The teenager beat Jake Libby outside off stumps three times in his opening over before plucking out the opener’s off stump in his second.
That was the host’s only reward for almost an hour as Dan Lategan drove the ball gloriously both square and straight. The introduction of Higgins proved his undoing, the all-rounder skidding one through to trap him on the crease.
Kashif Ali was given a life when Sam Robson failed to cling onto an edge off the unlucky Sharma, but undaunted the young quick struck soon afterwards, having Adam Hose caught behind by Joe Cracknell, a great grab at full stretch.
Kashif failed to make the most of his reprieve stumps flattened by Higgins and it was five down at lunch when Gareth Roderick nicked off for nought.
The afternoon seemed destined for a similar pattern as Ethan Brookes and Matthew Waite came and went, the latter ran out by a direct hit.
D’ Oliveira fought back. Batting out of his crease, the experienced batter drove the ball sweetly, particularly straight and through mid-wicket.
Taylor provided a foil for D’ Oliveira, one sumptuous cover drive contributing to an eighth wicket stand of 52. Once he departed, D’ Oliveira twice deposited Morgan deliveries over the short boundary, the youngster having the last laugh when Holden held a catch in the deep.
Batting proved no easier when the hosts took guard, Robson falling caught and bowled to last season’s leading wicket taker Taylor, while Josh De Caires had already been dropped at slip by Brookes when he nicked Hannon-Dalby into the gloves of Roderick.
The big wicket of Leus Du Plooy soon followed, the in-form skipper giving Roderick more catching practice trying to flat bat a wide one from Adam Finch with feet in glue.
Geddes played fluently from the off, unfurling some pleasing boundaries and with the obdurate Holden at the other end, the half-century stand was raised.
But Hannon-Dalby and Taylor sparked the late collapse to leave Worcestershire in charge at the close.
