SAM Hain admitted he ‘flicked a switch’ to find the rhythm he need to make 86 for Warwickshire on the opening day of their Championship match at Worcestershire.
Hain rediscovered his form with a season high 86, but a late flurry of wickets and a solid reply by the hosts gave Worcestershire the upper hand at New Road.
Pears’ Tom Taylor continued his fine form with another four wickets as Warwickshire were dismissed for 227.
Taylor took four for 37 as Warwickshire, having been strongly placed at 161 for two thanks to Sam Hain (86 from 152 balls) and Tom Latham (59, 153), lost their last eight wickets for 66 runs.
Worcestershire then reached 53 without loss with Jake Libby on 39 (54) and Gareth Roderick 13 (42)
Hain said: “We know the wickets here, through absolutely no fault of the home club, do a little bit and that was certainly the case.
“I thought Worcestershire bowled well in groups and Tom Latham and I just tried to battle it out. I think at one stage I was on eight off about 50 balls..
“It was hard to time the ball, but at some point you have got to flick a switch and I had a bit of a gamble and found a little bit of rhythm, which I guess has been a bit lacking in the first half of the season.
“It was nice to spend a bit of time out there in the middle, especially with Tommy. Then we lost wickets but that just went to show that on a pitch like this the game can move quickly so tomorrow hopefully we can get three or four wickets quite quickly and that will put the game back in our favour.”
Warwickshire chose to bat but had to work hard for runs in the morning session as the seamers found plenty of lateral moment.
Rob Yates perished to the seventh ball of the day, Taylor’s first, when he edged an attempt to force through the offside to wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick. Alex Davies fell to the 118th when he was pinned lbw by Matthew Waite.
Latham and Hain retrenched, the former solidly, the latter sketchily at first before settling into some glorious shots, notably sixes down the ground off Taylor and pulled off Ethan Brookes.
The third-wicket pair batted diligently to add 109 in 32 overs and were moving their side into ascendancy when Worcestershire struck three big blows in seven overs.
Brookes dismissed Latham with a lovely outswinger which took the edge through to the keeper and Beau Webster who sliced a drive to point. Ed Barnard, warmly applauded to the crease at his former home ground, soon returned to the pavilion nursing a 12-ball duck after edging Jacob Duffy to first slip.
Hain passed 50 for the first time this season and was within 14 of building it into a century when he edged Waite to second slip. Henry Nicholls accepted that catch and another one 18 balls later when Kai Smith edged Taylor to first slip.
Zen Malik dug in for a well-constructed 34 (58) which included a straight six off Waite to raise the 200 but his departure, lbw to Taylor, triggered the loss of the last three wickets for four runs in four balls.
Taylor trapped Ethan Bamber in front and Chris Woakes, playing his first championship match of the season and only his tenth in seven years, edged Duffy to second slip.
Worcestershire’s reply started at a gallop with 12 from the first over from Bamber. Against an attack including Woakes and Chris Rushworth, each playing their first game of the season after injury, openers Libby and Roderick put 50 on the board from 68 balls.
