County struggle against The Bears

7:06pm Tuesday 1st April 2008

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CRICKET may have returned to New Road, but there was little for Worcestershire fans to cheer about as their side was thrashed by 83 runs by Warwickshire in the first pre-season friendly of 2008.

On a wet pitch where the start was delayed for an hour, Worcestershire skipper Vikram Solanki won the toss and put the visitors into bat.

The New Road bowling attack looked timid as they tried to ensure that there were no unnecessary injuries and the Bears comfortably racked up 245-3 from their 40 overs.

Without playing too many shots Darren Maddy, Ian Westwood and Jonathan Trott all racked up half centuries, while Neil Carter (43) and Jim Troughton (31 not out) were able to get set.

The reply for the 2007 NatWest Pro40 champions got off to a poor start as Steven Davies perished to Lee Daggett in the third over without scoring. Wickets then fell at regular intervals with Daggett also removing Solanki (10) and Ben Smith (0), before young Chris Woakes got in on the action, having Graeme Hick (17) caught by Navdeep Poonia and Gareth Andrew edging him to Tony Frost behind the stumps for one.

Trott was also among the wickets as he bowled Darryl Mitchell for six and then trapped Kabir Ali for five.

Gareth Batty (59 not out) and Simon Jones (22) put up a bit of resistance with a 50 partnership, but they could not prevent the enevitable.

n The first day of the County's two-day pre-season friendly at Leicestershire, which is scheduled for tomorrow, will now be played at New Road.

The opening day has been switched due to a wet outfield at Grace Road, but the players are set to travel to the East Midlands for the day two on Friday.