Six for Chapple as Worcestershire fold

Glen Chapple's six-wicket haul deepened Worcestershire's championship travails on the first day at New Road

Glen Chapple and Sajid Mahmood shared ten wickets as Lancashire dismissed Division One strugglers Worcestershire for 167 in the LV= County Championship match at New Road.

The Lancashire captain grabbed 6-34, while fellow seamer Mahmood claimed 4-65 to remove the hosts in 47.3 overs.

Injury-hit Worcestershire, however, launched a determined fightback by restricting Lancashire’s reply to 172 for five off 46 overs by the close.

Vikram Solanki’s side were encouraged by medium-pacer Chris Whelan, who made life tricky for the visitors by ripping out their first three batsmen inside the opening ten overs.

Mark Chilton (51 not out) and Steven Croft (43), however, restored their side’s composure by putting on 68 in 14 overs for the fifth wicket.

Worcestershire, already without pace aces Simon Jones (knee) and Kabir Ali (hamstring), were further hampered when Australia all-rounder Ashley Noffke cried off due to irritation to scar tissue from his winter hip operation.

The announcement of his absence was followed by a disappointing start to the home side’s innings after they won the toss and decided to bat on a pitch which aided seam and swing bowling.

The conditions quickly favoured Chapple who tore out Stephen Moore, Daryl Mitchell and Ben Smith for a personal cost of just three runs.

Moore, fresh from his stint with England Lions, continued his poor start to the campaign with a first-ball duck.

His fleeting appearance ended when he was snapped up at short-leg by Mark Chilton before Chapple struck again by having Mitchell trapped leg-before.

Smith fell to a slip catch by Ashwell Prince with Solanki, who began his knock with 426 runs from first-class six innings, adding only another 22 to his healthy tally before offering a leg-side catch to wicketkeeper Luke Sutton off Mahmood.

Mark Chilton's unbeaten half-century ensured Lancashire did not fritter away their good work with the ball

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At that stage Worcestershire, in their first home championship match of the season, were sinking fast on 36 for four with hopes of an improvement resting heavily on Moeen Ali and Steve Davies.

They responded with a battling partnership, which blossomed after Chapple ended his opening spell with figures of 3-11 with nine overs.

Davies flicked a six over square-leg off Tom Smith’s third delivery, although Moeen had a slice of good fortune while on 17 when he was dropped in the gully by Prince off Kyle Hogg, who spent a brief loan spell at New Road in 2007.

Their efforts helped lift Worcestershire to 115 for four at lunch before Chapple rapidly began putting them under further intense pressure after the interval.

He began by ending the resistance put up by Moeen and Davies, who has added 88 in 17 overs when the wicketkeeper was trapped lbw for 48.

Gareth Batty then became part of Chapple’s impressive haul, further enhanced when he had Moeen caught by Sutton for 35.

Mahmood then stepped in to end an undistinguished Worcestershire effort by ousting Wheelan, Matt Mason and Gareth Andrew.

Lancashire made an uncertain start to their reply with Paul Horton out lbw to Whelan, who followed up in fine style by seeing off Prince and Smith.

The visitors’ discomfort continued just after tea with paceman Imran Arif entering the fray by dismissing Francois du Plessis.

Worcestershire’s progress, however, was then held up by Croft and Chilton, who kept them at bay for 14 overs before Mason ended the stand by having Croft lbw for 43.