Nottinghamshire 240 and 115 for 3 lead Worcestershire 283 (Oliver 99, Fell 72, Hilfenhaus 4-67) by 72 runs
Scorecard
Nobody celebrates a bouncer hitting a batsman these days. The delivery is bowled, as it must occasionally be, but if it hits its mark any fleeting sense of conquest fast gives way to concern. The bouncer is a weapon released with venom and laden with guilt.
But a weapon it remains, capable of changing the course of a match in an instant by virtue of its physical threat. When Ben Hilfenhaus' bouncer struck Alex Gidman, and forced the Worcestershire batsman to retire hurt, the disquiet among all concerned was evident, particularly so because of the delayed reaction he suffered. And the match was never quite the same again.
Initially, Gidman chose to bat on before pulling out of a delivery in the next over, from Samit Patel, and dropping to his haunches on the side of the pitch before he walked off gingerly, accompanied by two physiotherapists. He was diagnosed with mild concussion, but was relaxing happily enough on the balcony by the close.
"We were in a good position, then he gets one on the head and has to go off," bemoaned Worcestershire's director of cricket Steve Rhodes. "Our policy is always to take our players out of the firing line and check them over before slowly bringing them back into game time. It's doubtful he will take any further part in the match but having said that strange things can happen. He is okay and smiling, sometimes he has his colour, sometimes he does not."
Worcestershire will be reluctant to let him bat again, but the situation might yet tempt them into doing just that. It is curious that there is no set ECB policy about how counties must respond to concussion.
After Gidman's departure, batting never went so swimmingly for Worcestershire again. Visions of a first-innings lead well beyond 100 that would have strengthened their chances of victory against a relegation rival gave way to the reality of a 43-run advantage. By the close, Nottinghamshire had turned that deficit into a 72-run lead with seven wickets remaining. This match could hardly be more evenly poised.
Nottinghamshire will feel with good reason that they toughed the day out. On the first evening, they imagined they would be down to three fit frontline bowlers after Luke Fletcher and Andy Carter had limped out of the attack with hamstring and side injuries respectively. Fletcher was indeed an absentee but Carter, much to everyone's surprise, woke up fit to bowl - well up to 70% pace anyway.
He only managed six overs, and expensive ones at that, but it was a staunch effort. Underneath his bowling shirt, according to his director of cricket Mick Newell, he had more bandages than an Egyptian mummy. "The view was that we could strap him up into a condition where we would not make him worse," Newell said.
It was symptomatic of a fighting response by Notts, which also included a herculean bowling stint by Hilfenhaus, saw their Australian T20 signing Dan Christian forego a round of golf and volunteer for a day's sub fielding and James Taylor bat on, without a runner, despite a pulled hamstring suffered while stealing a quick single.
When Carter had the last man, Saeed Ajmal, lbw, Notts could be relieved at how things had turned out. Carter's angular frame can find extra bounce even when his health is in doubt and he almost had Tom Fell caught in his first over, the ball just brushing the hand of the diving Michael Lumb at gully. That really would have helped Nottinghamshire's case: Fell, 24 then, went on to make 74.
With Richard Oliver extending his overnight half-century to 99, at which point Patel found an inside edge and Chris Read held the catch, it meant that Worcestershire were within 37 runs of a first-innings lead with seven wickets remaining when Gidman unsteadily left the field.
With 17 overs to the new ball, Notts a bowler down and the day so warm that fielders took their drinks breaks in the shadow of a floodlight pylon, this should have been the hour that Worcestershire cashed in. But Hilfenhaus had Joe Clarke lbw and Brett Hutton, a 22-year-old Yorkshireman in only his fourth first-class match, took a wicket in three successive overs, the last of them, Fell, nicking to the keeper.
James Taylor consolidated Nottinghamshire's reply after they lost three wickets in building a lead of 26. It was the innings of a batsman desperately searching for form, but he remained unbeaten at the close and many of Nottinghamshire's hopes will rest with him.
