Harris haul sets up Glamorgan win over Worcestershire
LV COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION TWO, New Road: Glamorgan 267 & 41-1 beat Worcestershire 134 & 171 by nine wickets Glamorgan 21pts, Worcs 3pts Match scorecard
James Harris has now taken 16 County Championship wickets this season
Paceman James Harris claimed 5-56 as Glamorgan beat Worcestershire by nine wickets inside two days at New Road.
Worcestershire dominated the opening session, Alan Richardson taking four of the six wickets as Glamorgan stumbled from 228-4 overnight to 267 all out.
But Harris took over, backed by James Allenby (4-23), as Glamorgan, who had rolled their hosts for 134 in the first innings, again bowled them out cheaply.
This time, Worcestershire mustered 171, the visitors getting home on 41-1.
While Glamorgan secured a second Championship win in three games, for woeful Worcestershire it was their first defeat since relegation seven months ago as they lost their last six second innings wickets for just 11 runs in 10.1 overs.
Only in the morning was there hope for the home side as Richardson bowled an impressive unchanged spell of 11-10-5-4.
He finished with 5-86, his first five-wicket haul for the county - and his first in the Championship since September 2008.
That left the home side trailing only by 133 on first innings, when it could have been a lot more.
But Worcestershire's hopes of a crucial solid start second time around suffered a blow when Daryl Mitchell was caught behind off Harris.
Following three successive Championship ducks, Phil Jaques at last got some runs on the board - but he had made only 25 before becoming Harris's 100th first-class wicket for Glamorgan, caught at square leg.
For teenager Harris, that helped him become the youngest Glamorgan bowler to reach the landmark of 100 wickets for the county - at the age of 19 years and 347 days.
That knocked just over two years off the previous record, set by Robert Croft two decades ago.
Jaques' departure paved the way for a half-century stand between home skipper Vikram Solanki and in-form Moeen Ali, Worcestershire's first innings hero.
But that partnership was finally broken when Solanki played down the wrong line to Allenby and was bowled for 18.
Along with Alexei Kervezee, Moeen at least helped Worcestershire wipe out their daunting first innings deficit. But, after 339 runs in his last four Championship knocks, Moeen flicked David Harrison down the leg side to be caught behind by Mark Wallace for 58.
Kervezee, put down by Huw Waters while on 20, was then joined by Ben Smith to take Steve Rhodes' men to 154-4 at tea.
But the rest proved somewhat indigestible as Worcestershire surrendered dramatically to Harris and Allenby after the resumption.
Worcestershire director of cricket Steve Rhodes told BBC Hereford & Worcester:
"When we've won Championships here in the past, we've done it on wickets that have always done a bit and we simply backed ourselves to get runs more than the opposition.
"We had a good win here against Middlesex on a helpful wicket. And it seems wickets here are going to do a bit again this summer, but you're going to lose some along the way.
"And it just emphasises the importance of getting a good first innings score. To be rolled for 134 was not good enough.
"We showed what we could do with the ball. Alan Richardson put in an amazing effort and bowled really well to get us back in the game but we were always going to be short after that first innings.
"The one shining light among the batsmen was Moeen Ali, who played ever so well.
"He's worked very hard, addressed some technical issues which had held him back and is hitting it very cleanly."
Bookmark with:
What are these?