By Mike Beddow at Worcester
Scoreboard
First day of four: Warwicks (476-5) v Worcs
TOM MOODY'S last tactical decision of the season was not necessarily the wrong one for the conditions. Yet it misfired horribly because of a transparent weakness in Worcestershire's attack and centuries of some quality by Mark Wagh and Brian Lara.
Given the choice, Warwickshire probably would have bowled first as well. Instead Moody, who returns to Australia at the weekend, inadvertently created a recipe for embarrassment.
Warwickshire's opening partnership yielded 158 from Wagh and Nick Knight, the latter dropped behind the wicket off Stuart Lampitt, and three wickets were traded for 166 runs in the afternoon. And worse was to come for Worcestershire.
Lara cruised to his 50 in 62 balls, flexing himself with a six off Richard Illingworth and what developed was too much for Moody's piece of mind. Lara reached an undefeated 141 and became so dominant that Neil Smith made only 36 out of 106 together.
Lara's century arrived from 123 balls and in the period after tea he added 96 to close the day with 19 fours after a wonderful exhibition of stroke play spanning three hours.
Lara's mis-shapen season, the subject of much personal analysis and a genuine desire to justify his vast pay cheque, has finally come alive. After only just topping 400 runs in 19 championship innings, he has scored 583 in the last five. Class has overcome a meeting with unexpected frailty.
If Worcestershire had bowled better in the morning, or if Knight had gone for 11, Lara may not have been cosseted with such a comfortable situation. Knight eventually made 63 before Steve Rhodes held a second chance.
Wagh's fluency, an achievement on a slow, seaming surface, brought 19 fours, mending a disappointing spell since graduating from Oxford with a degree in psychology.
An innings of 119, his second championship century, ended when Gavin Haynes got one to bite and bounce, but a string of sizeable stands continued until Bobby Chapman took a couple of wickets.
Day 2: Giddins and Munton strike a rich seam
By Mike Beddow at Worcester
Second day of four: Worcs (236 & 29-5) trail Warwicks (544) by 279 runs
SUPPORTERS of Worcestershire did not know whether to smile with their local hero or cry for their team yesterday. A sweet and sour day brought a Test century for Graeme Hick but a shattering experience for his county.
Warwickshire have administered a mighty walloping so far, reaching 500 for the first time this year, dismissing their hosts in 67.5 overs and, to rub it in, taking five more wickets before the close.
An innings defeat appears to be inevitable for a side short on confidence and component parts because of injuries.
There was a brief element of face-saving yesterday morning. Brian Lara, two runs past 1,000 for the season, served up a leg-side catch for Bobby Chapman's 28th wicket in seven matches and Stuart Lampitt took the last four for his third five-wicket return of the campaign.
Even then, Worcestershire were about to suffer for Tom Moody's absence in the field because of a shoulder injury. He could not bat until the fall of the fifth wicket although, in practice, this was far too early in the 23rd over.
The higher order, either inexperienced or inconsistent, had been blown away for 67 by Ed Giddins and Tim Munton.
If Giddins, with 66 championship wickets, is arguably the best signing of 1998, Munton is the great survivor. The captaincy and a major injury are in the past but the old snap is back in his bowling, and accuracy never has been a problem.
Philip Weston, probing forward and Vikram Solanki, driving, found the slips, the latter well held by Nick Knight, but a younger pairing, with Essex connections, played with some gusto for their highest championship scores.
Nathan Batson, from Billericay, eventually lost his off stump and Elliott Wilson, from Felsted School, either lost his bearings or thought that a Giddins delivery was drifting down the leg side. David Leatherdale also went leg before to a ball which did not bounce a lot.
Moody promised more until driving to short cover and the rest was all about the lower order's capacity to frustrate opponents.
Steve Rhodes reached fifty for the fifth time this season before Dougie Brown got through to his off stump.
Gavin Haynes and Richard Illingworth also showed what could be done, but another session against Giddins and Munton exposed batting limitations. The two seamers shared 10 wickets on the day.
Mike Beddow at Worcester
Warwicks (544) bt Worcs (236 & 192) by an innings and 116 runs
DOMINANT to the point of offending a neighbourly relationship, Warwickshire successfully broke the recent history of this fixture with 15 wickets, and all 10 in the second innings, by Tim Munton and Ed Giddins.
Their first championship victory at New Road since 1980 was secured with a day and a half to spare, but not without a smattering of the spiky competitiveness which Steve Rhodes usually brings to these encounters.
Since 1990 he has scored 697 runs at an average of 58.08, with two centuries and four fifties, two of which stood almost alone in patching up his county's limited contribution to this match.
A fifth defeat in six championship games became their ultimate sanction, as well as a reminder readily accepted by the club that they need to hire experienced hands next season. The squad is too small to withstand injuries or provide competition.
Warwickshire recruited wisely last winter by signing Giddins and now that Munton is emerging from a long and sometimes bleak path back from injury, the attack is once more sharp and penetrative. One has 70 first-class wickets this summer; the other 25 in four matches since his return.
Worcestershire were at their mercy, resuming at 29 for five and soon to be 43 for seven when David Hemp, at third slip, held his fourth and fifth catches of the game. The temptation to cancel lunch was resisted only by Rhodes and Stuart Lampitt, both getting well forward to counter a low bounce.
Their resolve grew into a new Worcestershire eighth-wicket record of 134 against Warwickshire until they were leg-before, Lampitt without defence when the ball skidded through, but Rhodes perhaps unfortunate that his left pad was deemed not to have reached the area of doubt.
Bobby Chapman's edge to slip completed an even distribution of the wickets.