Rothesay County Championship, Division Two, New Road, Worcester (day two)

Worcestershire 214: Abbas 5-63 & 203-9: Waite 73*; Abbas 4-63

Derbyshire 88: Madsen 40; Allison 5-22, Taylor 3-27

Worcestershire (3 pts) lead Derbyshire (3 pts) by 329 runs

Match scorecard

Matthew Waite’s superb unbeaten 73 helped Worcestershire open up a 329-run lead over Derbyshire at New Road going into the penultimate day of the County Championship season.

Waite cashed in on being dropped twice in a stand of 51 with Tom Taylor as the Pears rebuilt from 88-7 to reach 203-9 at the close on day three, despite Muhammad Abbas (4-63) taking his match tally of wickets to nine.

After Abbas and Luis Reece took wickets in consecutive overs early on, the Pakistan international capped a profitable first hour when he pinned Jake Libby lbw for 13.

A lengthy delay for bad light meant an early lunch taken, but the visitors then had Nick Potts to thank for a double-wicket burst on the resumption when he had both Dan Lategan and Rehaan Edvalath caught behind.

After Adam Hose and Brett D’Oliveira followed, Abbas then had Waite dropped twice by Martin Andersson at second slip, but he did not have to wait long for a fourth wicket of the innings when he accounted for Henry Cullen, caught behind.

But a marathon spell of 20 overs straight through from either side of tea failed to earn Abbas another opening – and the Pears’ ninth-wicket partnership was only broken after an excellent piece of fielding from Yousaf bin Naeem ran Taylor out for 18.

Waite was then caught at long-leg on 48, only to be handed a reprieve when Potts was no-balled for overstepping.

Waite batted on in the process of registering a gritty 97-ball-50, passing the milestone for the sixth time in Division Two this summer, aided by 21 from Ben Gibbon. But, with still 30 overs left in the day, the skies darkened once again – and off they came.

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