Pitch battle sees Warwickshire set to appeal points loss

Warwickshire quickly took a first step towards making up for a points deduction imposed by the England and Wales Cricket Board when they beat Worcestershire by 218 runs in the LV County Championship at Edgbaston.

The Bears clinched victory before lunch as Naqaash Tahir’s 4-36 helped them dismiss injury-hampered Worcestershire for just 109.

Chasing an improbable 328 on a pitch rated as “poor” by an ECB pitch panel, Worcestershire were 36-3 overnight and had also lost Vikram Solanki, who retired hurt after being struck on the head by Boyd Rankin.

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They quickly slumped to 67-6 as Rikki Clarke (2-32) removed Shaaiq Choudry and Moeen Ali and Gareth Andrew fell to Tahir.

Damien Wright was caught by Ian Bell off Rankin after he and on-loan wicketkeeper Ben Scott had counter-attacked in vain, the latter making 31 from 29 balls before also retiring hurt after a blow to the fingers.

With last man Alan Richardson absent injured, Scott’s departure ended the contest – “a farcical end to quite a farcical game”, as Pears director of cricket Steve Rhodes put it.

The eight-point penalty brought about by the pitch troubles left the hosts with 15 points to Worcestershire’s four, though they are set to appeal.

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In Division Two, Northamptonshire completed an innings-and-six-run win over Gloucestershire early on the final morning at Bristol.

Resuming on 248-8, having followed on 269 behind after centuries for Northants’ Niall O’Brien and James Middlebrook, Gloucestershire were relying on their own first-innings centurion Will Gidman, who was 76 not out at the start of play.

Number 10 David Payne, though, could only survive until the 10th ball of the morning, when he was caught by Andrew Hall off Lee Daggett for his overnight score of one.

Last man Craig Miles hung around for another 21 minutes and, with Gidman reaching 81, there appeared the prospect of the hosts at least forcing their opponents to bat again.

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But with six needed to salvage that sliver of pride, Daggett bowled 16-year-old Miles for five to complete figures of three for 42 and wrap up his side’s maximum 24-point win, Gloucestershire taking just four.

Left-hander Gidman made 197 runs in the match without being dismissed, while his team-mates managed only 272 between them in both innings.

Scoreboards: Pages 10-11.