After playing six white ball matches in the last 13 days Nottinghamshire return to red ball action on Friday for the start of their latest LV= county championship match, against Worcestershire at New Road.

Victory over Sussex at Horsham lifted Notts up to fifth in the Division One table, on 127 points. This week’s opponents will be looking to put more daylight between themselves and the relegation places, with Worcs starting the contest just one place and three points above eighth spot.

In June, the sides met at Trent Bridge with Notts winning a thrilling contest by 113 runs in the final session of the match.

Head To Head

Nottinghamshire and Worcestershire have met on a total of 127 times in first class cricket.

The overall advantage lies with Notts, who have won 44 of the matches, with Worcs being triumphant on 35 occasions. There have been a further 47 draws and one tied contest.

Away trips to face Worcestershire began in 1921 for Notts and since then they have played a total of 62 fixtures within the county.

Seven of those games have been at Kidderminster, four at Dudley and two at Stourbridge. 

The remaining 49 have all been at New Road where the head-to-head count reads 14-12 in favour of Worcestershire, with the other 23 matches being drawn.

Last Time

The last time Notts visited New Road for a county championship fixture was in 2012 and it ended in something of a damp squib with rain washing out the final day.

At that stage Notts had an overall lead of 172 with eight second innings wickets left, nicely poised to set up a challenging run chase.

That opportunity didn’t arise with the umpires happy to call off the contest before lunch, such was the severity of the downpour.

Earlier, Notts had made 243 in their first innings, with Alex Hales’ 49 being the top score. The hosts responded with only 157 as Andre Adams bagged a five-wicket haul.

Neil Edwards matched the game’s top knock, reaching stumps on day three unbeaten on 49 but he, and the rest, had to settle for an early finish the next day. 

History

It’s been 14 years since Notts last won a four-day match at New Road – but the 2001 clash featured one of the county’s greatest-ever run chases. Set to score 461 in the fourth innings of the match, the scorecard read: Darren Bicknell 104, John Morris 94, Greg Blewett 134 not out, Usman Afzaal 88, Paul Johnson 26 not out, as the top five saw the job through for a famous seven wicket success. The winning total is also Nottinghamshire’s highest team total on the ground.

Joe Hardstaff junior, with 202 in 1947, is the only Notts batsman to score a double century at Worcester, with Don Kenyon, Graeme Hick and Tom Moody equalling the feat for the home side in this series of fixtures.

Only two Notts players have scored three centuries at New Road, Derek Randall and Tim Robinson. Randall’s 107 in 1973 was his maiden first class century.

Over the past 30 years other Notts centurions there have been Richard Hadlee, Chris Broad, Paul Johnson, Kevin Pietersen and Chris Read.

Riki Wessels made his first class debut for Notts in the New Road fixture of 2011. Before then, John Birch, in 1973, was the last Nottinghamshire player to make his first class debut at Worcester.

 

Stats (for all first class matches between Notts & Worcs)

Highest Team Total:

Notts: 540 (Worksop, 1934)

Worcs: 493-9d (New Road, 1996)

Highest Individual Score:

Notts: 243* RT Simpson (Trent Bridge, 1950)

Worcs: 227* GA Hick (New Road, 1986)

Best Bowling:

Notts: 8-20 BA Dooland (Trent Bridge, 1956)

Worcs: 8-55 NV Radford (Kidderminster, 1987)

 

Played For Them Both

Phil Jaques played 18 matches in this competition for Worcestershire between 2007 and 2010. The now-retired Australian, who was on the playing staff at Trent Bridge last season, scored 445 runs at an average of 31.78 whilst with the New Road side, registering three half centuries and a top score of 78 not out.

Alex Hales spent a brief period on loan to Worcestershire last year, playing one championship match, in which he made scores of 15 and 63 against Glamorgan at Cardiff.

Others to have played for both counties in recent years include Chris Tolley, Bobby Chapman, Paul Pollard, Nadeem Malik, David Lucas and AJ Harris.

Did You Know?

The record books tell us that Nottinghamshire’s Harold Larwood always enjoyed his trips to face Worcester. In ten matches at New Road the fast bowler took 59 wickets at an average of just 9, with nine five-wicket hauls, and twice he took 10 wickets in a match. His 8 for 49 in 1932 is the best for the county there.

Home and away, Larwood took a total of 110 wickets against Worcestershire at just 10 runs apiece – a truly phenomenal success rate. 

Milestones

Chris Read (14,839) needs a further 161 runs to reach 15,000 in first class cricket.

Chris Read (988) is only 12 wicketkeeping victims away from reaching 1,000 in first class cricket.

Gary Keedy (696) needs four more wickets for 700 in first class cricket.

Will Gidman (198) needs two more wickets to reach 200 in first class cricket.

Steven Mullaney (45) needs 5 more wickets to reach 50 in first class cricket.

Harry Gurney (142) needs 8 more wickets to reach 150 first class wickets for Nottinghamshire.

Brendan Taylor (863) needs a further 137 runs to reach 1,000 in first class cricket this season. James Taylor (814) needs 186 runs.

Tickets

For admission prices and all other matchday information please refer to the official Worcestershire County Cricket Club website www.wccc.co.uk

Coverage

BBC Radio Nottingham will be providing on-line commentary on this and every Notts match throughout the season. Access the on-line coverage via the BBC Sport website or app.

Follow the live scorecard, regular text updates and radio commentary through your perfect match-day companion Trent Bridge Live.

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