County Championship: Worcestershire promoted back to top tier after securing second in Division Two
Worcestershire have been promoted back to Division One of the LV= Insurance County Championship.
They secured second place in Division Two, behind champions Durham, by reaching 300 for a second batting bonus point during the early stages of a weather-interrupted second day against Yorkshire at Headingley.
Worcestershire went into this match needing a maximum of two points to seal top-level cricket for 2024 and nullify Leicestershire’s slim chance of overhauling them. They were 280 for five nights.
While captain Brett D’Oliveira was their star man, going from 90 to an excellent 103 overnight, he fell lbw to Matt Milnes to leave the score 299 for six and left it to Josh Baker to score the milestone points before they were thrown away. for 389.
The Pears were held to 299 for ten balls before Baker Milnes pushed Milnes through the covers twice at 10.55am – 25 minutes into day two – leading to celebrations on the players’ balcony by his teammates and coaches.
Only 29 overs were bowled, and Yorkshire were 24 without loss in their reply when poor light halted play just before 1.30pm. Rain followed and referees Steve O’Shaughnessy and Surendiran Shanmugam called off the play-off just before 3pm.
Barring any last-minute point deductions for slow overload or disciplinary issues, Worcestershire will play Division One cricket for the first time since 2018 next summer.
On-loan Essex seamer Ben Allison contributed a crucial career-best 75 from 118 balls, sharing stands of 77 for the sixth wicket with D’Oliveira and 79 for the eighth with Joe Leach, as the visitors fell just short of 400.
Dom Bess impressed with three for 55 from 21 off-spin overs for Yorkshire, claiming two of those wickets on day two.
Newcomer Milnes also struck twice and Matthew Revis once.
The first act of the day saw D’Oliveira go from 90 overnight to a stunning century off 199 balls.
It was the captain’s first hundred for his county since June last year but he was denied the fairytale of achieving the promotion-clinching runs when he was hit on the back pad by Milnes.
That allowed left-arm spinner Baker to be the man, but he miscued the next ball to mid-off Milnes as Worcestershire slid to 301 for seven in the 86th over.
Further success came for Bess after Allison reached his fifty off 87 balls. He uprooted Allison’s off-stump with a yorker – 380 for eight in the 100th – before ending the innings by having Leach caught at short leg after an extremely sharp slog sweep.
Just a few balls earlier, Leach had lofted him over for six in a combative 36.
Revis, sandwiched between the two Bess wickets, had Ben Gibbon caught behind.
While the first half of the morning was played under sunny skies, the clouds rolled in for the second and Yorkshire began their reply under the floodlights in the final half hour of the session.
They started confidently through Adam Lyth and Fin Bean – both are within 50 runs of 1,000 for the season in the Championship – but were not given the opportunity to continue due to the weather.