Brett D'Oliveira rescues promotion-chasing Worcestershire

Brett D'Oliveira rode to promotion-chasing Worcestershire's rescue on the opening day of the LV County Championship Second Division match against neighbours Gloucestershire at Cheltenham.

Seeking to leapfrog Sussex and move into second place in the table, Worcestershire were reduced to 182 for 7 by a Gloucestershire seam attack that acquitted themselves well to give hope to an expectant Festival crowd.

Zaman Akhter and Matt Taylor claimed 3 for 61 and 2 for 65 respectively and Worcestershire were in danger of under-achieving badly when their captain stopped the rot, scoring a dogged 53 not out from 103 balls and staging an obdurate unbroken partnership of 83 with Josh Baker, who was unbeaten of 40 when rain moved in to bring a premature close to proceedings with the loss of 34 overs.

Gareth Roderick and Matthew Waite may have contributed sparkling half-centuries earlier in the day, but Worcestershire were ultimately grateful to their skipper for hauling them clear of trouble against a Gloucestershire side who, at one point, must have sensed an opportunity to register a first red-ball win of the season.

Put into bat on a pitch that served up uneven bounce and a degree of lateral movement during the first hour, Worcestershire lost early wickets. Opening up from the Chapel End, Taylor struck with his fourth ball, tempting the in-form Jake Libby to push at a delivery outside off stump and nick off to third slip, where Miles Hammond held on at the second attempt.

Taylor removed Azhar Ali in his next over, the right hander falling lbw to late movement despite taking a reasonably big stride forwards. When Kashif Ali prodded tentatively at a length ball from Tom Price and Ollie Price took a fine catch low down at second slip, Worcestershire were 18 for 3 in the sixth over and three out of their top four had failed to score.

Yet Roderick and Adam Hose encountered no such problems, both appearing perfectly at home in a revitalising fourth-wicket stand of 77 in 14 overs. Fresh from signing a new contract, Roderick scored fluently either side of the wicket against his former club. He raised 50 from 62 deliveries, reaching that landmark courtesy of his ninth boundary, a square cut off Paul van Meekeren.

Much to his chagrin, he then pushed at a straight one from van Meekeren, deflecting an inside edge onto leg stump and departing for 53 when a really substantial score appeared to be his for the asking.

Having adopted the role of chief support in an innings of 32 from 45 balls, Hose went in the next over, Akhter pinning him lbw as Worcestershire subsided from the relative security of 95 for 3 to 99 for 5. Although D'Oliveira and Waite ushered the visitors to lunch without further mishap, it was Gloucestershire who had a spring in their step at the interval.

But the game entered an altogether different phase during the afternoon session: Waite re-emerged with all guns blazing, plundering six boundaries in eight balls as the first four overs of the session yielded 42 runs.

He drove and cut Matt Taylor for four and then found the leg-side boundary on four occasions during one van Meekeren over to force Gloucestershire onto the back foot. Continuing to play positively, the sixth wicket pair raised a 50 partnership from 58 balls and Waite, buoyed by 10 fours, rushed to a half century from just 40 deliveries.

But Waite suffered a rush of blood to the head, driving expansively at Akhter and edging to second slip. He had contributed 64 from 54 balls, struck 12 fours and helped add 83 in 15 overs for the sixth wicket with D'Oliveira. Akhter struck again in his next over as 182 for 6 became 182 for 7, Joe Leach playing across the line to a straight one without scoring.

It was now incumbent upon D'Oliveira to play a responsible innings. The rate of scoring necessarily slowed, but Worcestershire's captain ground out a valuable half-century from 87 balls, his first since the opening game of the season against Derbyshire.

He found a willing ally in Baker, who initially rode his luck in a testing examination at the hands of Akhter, before settling into the part of second fiddle to his captain. By the time heavy rain forced the players off, he was 10 runs short of a half-century.