Ali snares eight as Lancashire crumble

Owais Shah and Matt Prior have been given their chance to shine at international level this week, but one of England's forgotten men, Kabir Ali, was firmly in the limelight on the county circuit at Old Trafford. He took 8 for 50 to knock over Lancashire for 161 on the first day.

In swinging conditions, Ali ripped through the home side as Worcestershire more than made the most of winning the toss. Ali's figures shaded his previous-best of 8 for 53, against Yorkshire four years ago.

Since then he's been in and out of the England's one-day set-up, and has just one Test to his name. But he made his mark again in the first-class arena today with his haul which included Mal Loye for 5 and the captain Mark Chilton for 6.

This season, Ali's six other Championship wickets have cost 46.66 apiece, while Worcestershire have lost all three of their matches. This display, though, has given them a glimmer of hope of their first win.

Worcestershire removed wickets in clumps - reducing Lancashire to 48 for 4. There was a brief respite as Brad Hodge and Luke Sutton (25) registered a stand of 78, but then more folding as Lancashire lost their last five wickets for 31. Hodge reached 49 before being Sillenced by Roger, who also grabbed Steven Croft for 21.

England's Jimmy Anderson and Saj Mahmood spared Lancashire's blushes to a certain extent, by removing the openers Phil Jaques and Stephen Moore in their twenties, and Dominic Cork picked off Ben Smith for 1 shortly before the close. Muttiah Muralitharan then spun out Vikram Solanki for 54, his first wicket since returning to his old county. But Worcestershire have taken a slim lead already with six wickets in hand.