DAVIES ADDS TO YORKSHIRE'S WOES; Tykes toil in clash of the strugglers

Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England), June 17, 2009

Byline: JOHN JAMES

STEVEN DAVIES shone with the bat for Worcestershire in the bottom-two clash with Yorkshire in Division I of the LV Championship at New Road.

England one-day wicket-keeper Davies top scored with an unbeaten 74 as Worcestershire reached 319-5 from 96 overs by the close.

Worcestershire skipper Vikram Solanki elected to bat and Stephen Moore and Daryl Mitchell put together their first opening century stand of 2009.

It was a welcome return to form for England Lions player Moore who was the leading scorer in the country last season but had managed just 97 runs in eight championship innings.

He celebrated bringing up his second half century of the season - made off 73 balls with nine fours - by hoisting Azeem Rafiq for a straight six.

But, after making 60 off 104, Moore s perished in the final over before lunch when he was trapped lbw by former England paceman Matthew Hoggard.

Solanki made a single before falling in the first over after the resumption when he pushed forward to Ajmal Shahzad and was caught behind by Jonathan Bairstow.

Wickets began to fall at regular intervals with Ben Smith (15) cutting Deon Kruis to Jacques Rudolph at backward point, and then Mitchell's defiant innings ended when he was yorked by Rafiq for a dogged 68.

Worcestershire were in danger of under-achieving at 173-4 but the in-form Moeen Ali and Davies retrieved the position with a stand of 92 in 27 overs.

The ex-Warwickshire batsman reached 50 off 113 balls with four fours but added only five more to his tally before driving at Kruis and losing his middle stump.

That left a large responsibility on Davies to guide Worcestershire to a substantial total and he was more than up to the task..

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IN COMMAND: Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene cuts a boundary during their 48-run victory over New Zealand at Trent Bridge yesterday in the ICC World Twenty20. In last night's match, favourites South Africa made it five wins from five as they secured a 12-run victory over India. WELL DONE HOGGY: Yorkshire's Matthew Hoggard had the wicket of Stephen Moore, but not before the Worcester batsman had totalled 60