points for the state of the Edgbaston wicket.

The first ball of the day turned sharply and bounced steeply to finish the Worcestershire first innings and thereafter players were hit on the gloves and body and occasionally fell foul of deliveries that scuttled malevolently. It is hard to set yourself against such vagaries, to which batsmen departing with knowing grins rather than disappointment was testament.

Later, as Worcestershire embarked on an impossible mission to make 328 to win after Warwickshire declared at 173 for eight, they lost Vikram Solanki to a brutal blow on the back of the head, just behind his left ear, missing his helmet.

Boyd Rankin, excited by the bounce, had tended to bowl too short, which looks spectacular but misses the point of bowling on a badpitch. The delivery to Solanki was short but not excessively so but the batsman looked to duck. The ball failed to bounce as high as he anticipated and, turning his head, it hit him square. As he lay prone, there were calls for the physio, who arrived at the same time as a rain flurry. Solanki got unsteadily to his feet and, clearly groggy, tottered from the field. Anx-ray revealed only soft tissue damage and, if he scrubs up, he will bat on Saturday. Worcestershire had reached 36 for three by stumps, all three wickets going to Naqaash Tahir, who bowled a more consistent length than Rankin and prospered as a result.

All this took place in front of the ECB pitch inspectors David Hughes and Tony Pigott, who