County Championship: Brett Hutton takes 6-57 for Northants against Worcestershire

England's Moeen Ali made 42 on his Worcestershire return but it was Northamptonshire's day as the Pears' struggling top order failed again.

Moeen was the only batsman in the top seven to make made double figures as the visitors slumped to 31-6.

Brett Hutton starred with 6-57, but Pears skipper Joe Leach did lead a late-order rescue with an unbeaten 53 to help the visitors reach 186.

Alex Wakely and Rob Keogh then guided the hosts to 140-3 by the close.

Both made half centuries, Wakely seeing it through to the close on 63, after Keogh had become Wayne Parnell's second victim for 53. But play ended prematurely three balls into the day's final over when Nathan Buck was hit on the helmet by Josh Tongue.

Earlier, Parnell weighed in with the bat as the Pears 8, 9, 10 and 11 showed up their predecessors. Ed Barnard made 27, Parnell 30, and Leach was still there at the end when Tongue went for 20.

That was in contrast to the five wickets which went down in the opening 50 minutes of play, including Championship debutant Jack Haynes, bowled by Hutton for a golden duck with a real snorter that pitched on middle and hit off stump.

He was one of three to be removed first ball by Hutton, followed by Alex Milton and Ben Cox. And even Moeen himself was dropped twice in the slips - on 12 and 16 - before becoming the first of two victims for Buck.

Worcestershire went into this game in ninth place, having not won in eight games since mid-May, but still within 37 points of two of the three promotion places.

They won their last four matches under Steve Rhodes to win promotion in 2017. But that was inspired by the signing of India Test spinner Ravi Ashwin, who took 20 wickets. And this performance has probably already put an end to any hopes of a repeat.

Northants paceman Brett Hutton told BBC Radio Northampton:

"It a great start. And the lads have done the hard yards with the bat too, to give us a chance to get a long way ahead in the game.

"It would have been nice to roll them over before lunch but the ball got a older and didn't do as much, then Joe Leach batted well. But, had we been offered that score, we'd have been pleased.

"I was pleased at the toss because the wicket had been under cover for a while and, if it does anything at Northampton it's first thing."

Pears bowling coach Alan Richardson told BBC Hereford & Worcester:

"Full credit to Northants. They bowled really well and then backed it up with the bat. The two opening bowlers bowled testing lengths and it was an impressive first session.

"It's a used wicket so we thought it was best to bat first, but we didn't get through that first session.

"We take great pride in batting all the way down and added useful runs in the end. We were disappointed not to score more but it was still a good effort to get to 186 from 31 for 6."