Hain masterclass puts Warwickshire in derby box seat
Worcestershire 181 and 57 for 2 need a further 270 runs to beat Warwickshire 227 and 280 (Hain 87*, Woakes 42, Duffy 5-75)
Sam Hain's second highly-skilled innings of the match left Warwickshire well-placed to press for victory over Worcestershire in the Rothesay County Championship derby at Visit Worcestershire New Road.
On a capricious pitch which has helped seamers throughout, Hain followed his first innings 86 with an unbeaten 87 off 174 balls as Warwickshire took their second innings to 280 to set the home side 327 to win. Chris Woakes supported Hain with 42, during which he passed 10,000 runs in all formats, while Jacob Duffy took 5 for 75.
Worcestershire closed the third day on 54 for 2 and face a huge batting challenge on the final day when they must make by far the biggest score of the match to win it.
Warwickshire resumed on the third morning day on 53 for 1, already 99 ahead, and soon lost Tom Latham who edged an aggressive shot at Tom Taylor to wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick. Rob Yates re-dropped the anchor and eked out a valuable 29 from 112 balls before falling lbw, hit on the back pad, by Ben Allison. Beau Webster paid the price for going on the back foot on a pitch sometimes keeping low when Duffy flattened his leg stump.
That was 86 for 4 and Worcestershire were clawing their way back into the match but the excellent Hain unfurled his second crucial innings of the contest and received important support from the middle and lower orders. Ed Barnard (30) added impetus before top-edging Matthew Waite to third man. Zen Malik helped Hain added 30 and, after he sliced Duffy to point and Kai Smith pulled Allison to long leg, Woakes arrived - not a bad player to have coming in at No. 9.
The eighth-wicket pair added 67 in 21 overs, lifting Worcestershire's target over 300, before Woakes edged Taylor to slip. Duffy completed his five-for with wickets from successive balls when Ethan Bamber hit his wicket from the follow through from a pull and Chris Rushworth edged to slip.
Rushworth wasted no time before inflicting damage with the ball when he knocked out Jake Libby's off stump with an outswinger. Six balls later, Henry Nicholls copped a tough lbw decision when he appeared to be struck outside the line of off-stump by Woakes.
That was 25 for 2 and, with 27 overs left in the day Warwickshire fancied their chances of making match-clinching inroads before stumps. Batting remained a serious test of concentration and technique but Roderick and Kashif Ali negotiated 12 overs before bad light lopped off the last 15.
An intriguing final day beckons with an additional factor from some rain in the forecast. Warwickshire remain strong favourites to bank a win which would owe most to Hain whose high-class batting in this match was worthy of two centuries.