The frustrated cries of “c'mon Warwick” were echoing from the Rea Bank stand as the shadows lengthened. A poor morning, followed by a calamitous afternoon with the bat and then a humbling evening with the ball, left Warwickshire contemplating not only defeat, but how hard winning promotion back to the first division will be.

As Stephen Moore and Vikram Solanki pushed Worcestershire's lead past 150, Darren Maddy, the home captain, appeared to hold a crisis meeting at a drinks break. But in reality, they were only putting the bowling and a good pitch into context. Moore was out caught behind, cutting at Ant Botha, in the fourth over before the close, but his excellent 66 came after he had carried his bat for 109 in the first innings. His partnership of 141 in 36 overs with his captain, Solanki, has put Worcestershire in complete control.

The morning began poorly for them, however, when Simon Jones, their risky signing from Glamorgan, pulled out before play with a sore neck after bowling only three overs the previous evening.

“He just woke up with it this morning,” Steve Rhodes, the Worcestershire director of cricket, said. “He wasn't too bad, it was actually fine in the warm-up, but it felt a bit awkward and when he tried to bowl, it just locked up on him.“I'm very happy we bowled them out with three seamers and Simon's neck could go down in the next 24 to 36 hours.” [Warwickshire resumed on 39 for three and Lee Daggett, the nightwatchman edged to second slip. But Navdeep Poonia scored a breezy fifty on debut and Jonathan Trott was faultless.]

Suicidal batting after lunch led Warwickshire to lose their last five wickets for 41 runs in 21 overs, for a 34-run first-innings deficit. [Luke Parker started the rot with a flashing back-foot drive outside off stump at Gareth Batty. It served to confirm only that Graeme Hick's eyes have definitely not gone as he took his third slip catch of the innings.]

Tony Frost clipped Gareth Batty to square leg and Jonathan Trott, on a chanceless 80, should have sent him back. Instead he was comfortably run out by Moore's throw to the wicketkeeper. [Gareth Andrew's hitherto innocuous seamers then became deadly as he took three wickets for no runs in seven balls as Warwickshire's tail flashed hopefully outside off stump.]

Worcestershire: First Innings 249 (S C Moore 109 not out)

Second Innings

D K H Mitchell c Trott b Carter 5
S C Moore c Frost b Botha 66
*V S Solanki not out 75
K Ali not out 0 Extras (lb 2, nb 2) 4

Total (2 wkts, 42 overs) 150

Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-146.

Bowling: Daggett 12-4-33-0; Carter 12-3-36-1; Botha 5-1-21-1; Groenewald 7-2-34-0; Trott 6-2-24-0.

Warwickshire: First Innings (overnight 39-3)

L M Daggett c Hick b Ali 6
I J L Trott run out 80
N S Poonia c Hick b Batty 50
L C Parker c Hick b Batty 5
†T Frost not out 18
A G Botha c Davies b Andrew 6
T D Groenewald c Smith b Andrew 0
N M Carter c Davies b Andrew 0
Extras (lb 1, nb 12) 13

Total (64.4 overs) 215

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-37, 3-37, 4-59, 5-141, 6-174, 7-204, 8-215, 9-215.

Bowling: Ali 15-1-64-2; Magoffin 20-5-75-1; Jones 3-2-2-1; Andrew 7.4-1-37-3; Mitchell 5-2-15-0; Batty 14-4-21-2.

Umpires: B Leadbeater and N A Mallender.

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