Gloucestershire youngsters on form with bat to keep Worcestershire game alive

Both out-preformed their more experienced team-mates, scoring valuable half centuries on a day when the hosts recovered from 120-4 to close on 212-4 in reply to Worcestershire’s first innings 406.

Worcestershire bowler Joe Leach said: “It’s been a pretty good day for us. To resume on 265-7 and then go on and score more than 400 is a fantastic effort from the guys at the back of the order. Brett played particularly well and, hopefully, that will be the start of a good run of form for him.

“He and Josh Baker played really well, punished the bad ball, put their bowlers under pressure and made sure we scored at a faster rate than they have so far.

“With the ball, we were very disciplined and controlled the scoreboard really well. Every opportunity we’ve created so far, we’ve taken, so we have to be happy with that. It’s a pretty good wicket and the heavy roller killed any remaining pace. It’s attritional cricket and I thought we coped with that very well.” It’s a shame about Adam Finch being no-balled, because the game might have been different had we got Joe Phillips out then. But it’s the same for all bowlers and, hopefully, this will be a good lesson for him early in his career. This is one of those pitches where the first 20 balls are crucial and you just hope the new batsman does not adjust to the pace of the wicket too soon. It’s slow and it’s hard work for the bowlers, but maybe it will take a bit of spin later in the game.”

Playing only his second senior game, 19-year-old Phillips posted a career-best 80, while Price, 22, finished on 75 not out, staging a successful rearguard action during the final session with his elder brother Tom, who is unbeaten on 41

Joe Leach claimed three wickets in 16 balls to give Worcestershire the edge, but Gloucestershire trail by 194 and still have it within their power to at least claim parity when they resume in the morning.

Brett D’Oliveira had earlier top-scored with 90 and Josh Baker made a career-best 75 as the hosts were made to toil, Worcestershire’s last three wickets realising a bountiful 224 runs.

Just a week after making his debut on this same ground in the drawn game against Glamorgan, Phillips might easily have passed up this latest opportunity to make a good impression. Having battled his way to 24 not out, he had his off stump unceremoniously uprooted by Adam Finch, only for the Worcestershire bowler to be no-balled.

Finch sank to his knees, head in hands, and obviously troubled by his transgression thereafter, managed a further two expensive overs before being withdrawn from the attack. Determined to make the most of his good fortune, Phillips positively flourished, plundering four boundaries at the expense of Finch to give his innings lift-off.

Visibly growing in stature with every run scored, the Cornishman reached his maiden first-class 50 from 87 balls with his eighth four, a flowing cover drive at the expense of Josh Baker’s slow left arm. Ollie Price proved the perfect foil in a second wicket stand that yielded exactly 100 from 171 balls. With the tea interval approaching and a hundred within his grasp, Phillips suffered an unfortunate loss of concentration, needlessly prodding at a ball outside off stump from Leach and offering a straightforward catch to first slip.

His impressive innings spanned 127 balls, included 13 fours and more than compensated for the early loss of fellow opener Chris Dent, caught at the wicket off the bowling of Dillon Pennington in the eighth over.

Phillips’ untimely dismissal gave cause for sober reflection when Leach completed an incisive burst of three wickets in 16 balls by dismissing Miles Hammond and James Bracey in quick succession after tea to reduce Gloucestershire to 120-4.

Unperturbed by the carnage at the other end, Ollie Price continued to go about his work in unobtrusive fashion, grafting his way to a 128-ball 50 in partnership with brother Tom. These two applied themselves diligently in an unbroken stand of 92, defying all that Worcestershire could throw at them for 34 overs to haul their side back into the game.

Resuming on 265-7, Worcestershire added a further 141 runs in the morning session, thanks in large part to the continued obduracy of skipper D’Oliveira. Having helped add 83 for the sixth wicket with Matthew Waite on the opening day, he orchestrated further profitable stands of 141 and 49 with Baker and Finch for the eighth and ninth wickets respectively.

It was a bitter pill to swallow for Gloucestershire’s bowlers, whose ranks were depleted by the absence of Matt Taylor, sidelined by an infected cut on his foot. Having reduced their opponents to 182-7 and harboured ambitions of dismissing them cheaply, the home side were made to suffer as Worcestershire’s last three wickets realised a further 244 runs.

Not content with recording his first half century of the summer, Baker set a new career-best score of 75, eclipsing the 61 made against Middlesex in a match at Lord’s in September 2021. He was eventually caught behind off the bowling of van Meekeren, by which time he had faced 135 balls, hit a six and 7 fours and, together with his captain, established a new record eighth wicket stand for Worcestershire in matches against Gloucestershire, surpassing the 124 made by Steve Rhodes and Stuart Lampitt at Bristol in 1997.

Gloucestershire took the new ball, only to see it fly to the boundary with ever greater frequency as Finch picked up the cudgels, straight-driving Zaman Akhter for four to raise 350 and then square cutting him for six. Rhodes had contributed his highest score of the season, hewn from 164 balls and adorned with 10 fours, and was just 10 short of a hundred when he offered the home side much-needed relief, taking on van Meekeren and top-edging a pull shot to mid-on.

Last man Pennington drove van Meekeren for four to raise 400 and a fourth batting bonus point before top-edging the Dutchman to mid-on, having harvested 26 from 20 balls. The last wicket yielded 34 runs and Finch equalled his highest score in Championship cricket, finishing unbeaten on 33.

Slow left armer Zafar Gohar exerted control in 13 overs that yielded just 29 runs, while van Meekeren and Akhter finished with 4-93 and 3-88 respectively. In truth, Gloucestershire’s seamers were guilty of bowling too many short deliveries and it was a tired-looking side that trudged off at the lunch interval.