RESULT
Worcester, September 24 - 26, 2018, Specsavers County Championship Division One
340 & 221
(T:134) 428 & 137/3

Yorkshire won by 7 wickets

Report

Gary Ballance and Ben Coad allow Yorkshire to finish in style

Moeen Ali and Wayne Parnell made half-centuries but it wasn't enough to set a troublesome target

Ben Coad was among the wickets again  •  Getty Images

Ben Coad was among the wickets again  •  Getty Images

Yorkshire 428 (Ballance 194, Brooks 82) and 137 for 3 (Ballance 60) beat Worcestershire 340 (Mitchell 127, Moeen 60, Brooks 6-94) and 221 (Moeen 67, Parnell 58*, Coad 4-56) by seven wickets
Scorecard
Yorkshire rounded off the 2018 campaign with a seven wicket success against a depleted Worcestershire attack in the Specsavers County Championship encounter at New Road.
They had made sure of their Division One status for another season earlier in the match and today reached a modest 134 target with more than a day to spare.
It gave them revenge for an innings-and-186-run defeat against their opponents at Scarborough last month although the absence of the injured Josh Tongue and Wayne Parnell today made the task more straightforward.
That victory had revived Worcestershire's hopes of beating the drop themselves but a run of five successive Championship defeats since then has sealed their fate and meant an instant return to the second tier.
This game turned on its head yesterday evening when, with Worcestershire looking set for a sizeable lead, Gary Ballance and Jack Brooks added 171 for the ninth wicket.
Instead Yorkshire enjoyed an 88-run first innings advantage and never relinquished control after that despite some clean hitting from Moeen Ali and Parnell.
An end to the campaign of two wins and two draws meant they eventually finished fourth in the table.
Yorkshire had extended their first innings by 11 runs from its overnight 417 for 9 before Ballance was last out for 194. His superb knock ended when he went to pull Ed Barnard and Dillon Pennington held onto a low catch at fine leg.
When Worcestershire launched their reply, Brooks accounted for Daryl Mitchell with a ball of extra bounce which he gloved to keeper Jonathan Tattersall. Fellow opener Tom Fell departed to a head high catch by Adam Lyth at second slip off Ben Coad.
Joe Clarke made 16 before he was bowled by Yorkshire skipper Steven Patterson via an inside edge in his final innings for Worcestershire before joining Nottinghamshire on a four-year contract.
Moeen then dominated a fourth-wicket stand of 59 with Alex Milton before the innings imploded at the start of the afternoon session. After being dropped from the first ball after the resumption, Moeen was caught and bowled by Patterson off the third delivery of the same over. Coad then struck twice in three balls as Milton was caught behind and Ed Barnard attempted a cut shot and nicked through to Jack Leaning at third slip.
He enjoyed another success as Ben Twohig lofted a simple catch to mid-off and then Ben Cox went down the wicket to Patterson and was bowled.
Parnell cut loose and added 40 with Tongue before the latter was caught at first slip off Bresnan. The South African leg glanced Bresnan for his ninth four to reach his half century before Dillon Pennington was bowled by Bresnan to wrap up the innings.
Barnard and Pennington, the only two Worcestershire front-line seamers fit enough to bowl, both enjoyed an early success in disposing of Jeet Raval and Lyth respectively.
Ballance and Leaning shared a partnership of 77 in 19 overs to take Yorkshire to the verge of victory. Twohig had Ballance caught at deep mid-on before Leaning hit the winning runs off Barnard.

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Specsavers County Championship Division One

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SOM14724208
ESSEX14742187
YORKS14553158
HANTS14455144
NOTTS14482133
LANCS14373133
WORCS142102104