By D J Rutnagur at Worcester

First day of four: Worcestershire (136 & 52-1) lead Northants (114) by 74 runs

IN the event of 15 wickets or more falling in a day, the umpires have to ring Lord's with a report. It is highly unlikely, however, that the Somerset duo of Messrs Ken Palmer and Mervyn Kitchen will indict the New Road pitch and recommend a visit from Harry Brind, the England and Wales Cricket Board's inspector of pitches.

The explanation for Franklyn Rose laying waste Worcestershire's innings with a career-best seven for 39 in a spell of 16 overs on either side of lunch and Tom Moody and David Leatherdale spreading havoc during Northamptonshire's reply was that the ball swung prodigiously and, as the day progressed, deviated off the seam increasingly.

Culpability for the batsmen's discomfiture must rest on the weather of the past few days. On top, the pitch must have been firm enough, for Moody elected to bat. It was the damp lurking underneath that made batting precarious.

There was also a strange unpredictability about the ball's bounce. When, in the morning, Devon Malcolm pitched the ball short, it stood up with a plop, asking to be hit. Yet, just before tea, Leatherdale made a couple whistle past the faces of tall batsmen - Rob Bailey and David Sales.

Of the 21 batsmen dismissed during a day when the hinges of the dressing-room doors could well have disintegrated from overuse, 12 were caught behind the wicket or in the slips and four at short leg.

The stumps were hit only once when David Roberts, who battled staunchly for 21 overs to score 39, played back when he should have been forward. The sole lbw victim, Tony Penberthy, succumbed from not offering a stroke.

It was ironic that Devon Malcolm had no share of the fruity cake and another former England pace bowler, Phil Newport, got only a particle of it by way of a tail-ender's wicket in his second spell. Malcolm went for 33 runs in his six opening overs in the first innings, being savaged by Graeme Hick, who hit five of his eight fours off him in scoring 38 off only 49 balls before slicing a drive at Rose, who bowled a fuller length.

Paul Taylor, who shared the new ball with Malcolm, bowled well and made the first incision, claiming Abdul Hafeez. He should have had Philip Weston as well. Taylor induced two snicks from the left-hander, one of which was put down in the slips and another of which fell just short.

Batting was no easier when Worcestershire batted again with 12 overs to face, but Weston and Hafeez held firm until the final over when Taylor, angling the ball across Hafeez, had him taken at first slip.

Day 2: Weston on his own as pace brings swift end

By D J Rutnagur at Worcester

Worcs (136 & 212) bt Northants (114 & 77) by 157 runs

PHILIP WESTON ran out of partners nine runs short of what would have been his first century of the season. But his disappointment will be tempered by the knowledge that his innings of 286 minutes was at the core of Worcestershire's two-day win in a match hugely influenced by conditions severely loaded in favour of pace bowlers.

Furthermore, Weston achieved the feat of carrying his bat through an innings for the second time in his career, the first instance having been against Derbyshire at Chesterfield in 1996.

Until just five minutes before Bobby Chapman dealt Northamptonshire the final blow with his fourth wicket in a decisive spell of just 6.1 overs, the sun stayed hidden. The surly sky had preserved every bit of the advantage the pace bowlers held through the first day. If anything, it was enhanced by the ball bouncing more vigorously from a length at the New Road end.

The nine second-innings wickets with which Worcestershire started the day had all fallen before tea and Northants, required to score 235 to win, were routed in just 39.1 overs, their defeat ending the anomalous situation of the bottom of the table county holding an unbeaten record.

It was no coincidence that the three longest innings played yesterday were by tall batsmen with a big forward reach - Weston, Tom Moody, who was in for 73 minutes, and Rob Bailey, who defied Worcestershire for 134 minutes to make Northants' top score of 24.

Graeme Hick shared their attribute of height, but he was out to the first ball he faced, lbw to an in-swinger from Paul Taylor. Franklyn Rose, Worcestershire's chief tormentor in the first innings, followed up Taylor's triumph by dismissing Vikram Solanki.

The level at which the snick flew to the wicket-keeper was evidence of the bounce that was on offer to a bowler operating from the Diglis end. Moody now joined Weston in a fourth-wicket partnership that added 49 crucial runs.

Weston's innings was flawless. But three hooked fours were less than fully controlled. It was curious that while balls of full length carried through with lift, nothing that was dug in short bounced with vim.

Devon Malcolm, given his first bowl from the New Road end, tested Moody, often vulnerable against the lifting ball, with two short balls which, in effect, were innocuous long hops. The first was mis-timed with profit while the second was pulled straight down mid-on's throat - an unworthy end to a sturdy and responsible innings. The only lasting ally Weston had thereafter was Richard Illingworth.

Northamptonshire had to build their innings on foundations loosened by Philip Newport, who took three wickets in his first five overs. Moody ripped through the middle order and then Chapman put Northants out of their misery.