WORCESTERSHIRE, who scored 287 in only 31.5 overs to beat Surrey at the Brit Oval last Saturday, were brought back to earth last night after Glamorgan had set them a target of 269 in 38 overs to claim another remarkable victory.

They collapsed to 117 for nine before Stephen Moore, who batted throughout the innings for an unbeaten 53, blocked out the final over from Alex Wharf to deny Glamorgan their first win of the season in the Liverpool Victoria County Championship second division.

It had been one thing chasing runs against a slipshod Surrey attack on one of the best batting pitches in the country and quite another doing it on a New Road surface that had always promised rich rewards for the seam bowlers if only they could put the ball in the right place.

Sure enough Phil Jaques, who carried most of Worcestershire’s hopes after scoring 107 off 69 balls against Surrey, was soon caught and bowled by Andrew Davies when he top-edged an attempted pull and it became a procession as David Harrison had Vikram Solanki caught behind and Ben Smith taken at third slip.

Graeme Hick just managed to reach 100 runs for the season in his eighth championship innings before he edged Davies to the wicketkeeper and Steve Davies, Gareth Batty and Roger Sillence all perished to loose shots against the seamers.

Kabir Ali held out for 11 overs but was then caught at short leg off Robert Croft’s second ball of the match, Zaheer Khan was leg-before padding up to Croft and it was left to Moore to save Worcestershire from total embarrassment.

The irony of it all was that Glamorgan had not appeared to be as keen to play as Worcestershire were after heavy overnight rain had delayed the start for the fourth day in succession. A total of 168 overs — or more than a day and a half of cricket — had been lost and the outfield was so wet that one wag reckoned that Worcestershire could have done with Johnny Weissmuller at backward square leg when Nicky Peng pulled Khan into a huge puddle in front of the boundary boards.

Three catches went down, one of them when Solanki splashed down after racing back from mid off, as Peng and Ryan Watkins put on 73 in 14 overs for the fourth wicket and Mark Cosgrove, defying a back injury that had forced him to retire the night before, and Mark Wallace added another 82 in 14 overs before the declaration. Cosgrove struck an unbeaten, run-a-ball 71 with a six and 11 fours while Wallace hit a six and five fours in his 31 not out.

Worcestershire have signed Lou Vincent, the New Zealand batsman, to replace Jaques when he goes back to Australia next month to play in an A team series. Glamorgan have registered James Franklin, the New Zealand left arm seam bowler, after satisfying themselves that he has recovered from a knee injury.

LARA ON SONG

Brian Lara’s stroke-filled 69 took West Indies within sight of a series-clinching win over India in Trinidad. At 204 for four, they needed only 14 to claim an unbeatable 3-1 lead.