MATTHEW Waite starred with bat and ball as Worcestershire CCC beat Essex by 225 runs to claim their first County Championship win of the season.
Waite top scored with 73 runs in Worcestershire’s first innings and then took 6-19 with the ball in Essex’s second stint with the bat at New Road.
The Pears posted 358 in their first innings before bowling Essex out for 157 in reply.
However, the home side could only manage 134 in their second innings but bowled Essex out for 110 thanks to Waite’s heroics with the ball.
Despite the victory, Worcestershire remain bottom of the County Championship Division One table, 13 points behind Yorkshire.
The Pears lost the toss and were put into bat as the hosts slipped to 58-3 before Kashif Ali (46) and Rob Jones (54) combined to boost Worcestershire’s total.
And Worcestershire’s tail end batted superbly as Waite, Tom Taylor (43) and Ben Allison (38) showed excellent resistance to post a strong first innings total.
The Pears made several early inroads with the ball to leave Essex in trouble on 98-6 as Taylor (3-23) and Waite ((3-34) did the damage with the ball.
Only Robin Das (44) passed the 20-run mark for Essex as the Pears took a 201-run lead into their second innings.
However, Worcestershire struggled with the bat on their return to the crease as Gareth Roderick (0) and Henry Nicholls (2) departed quickly to leave the Pears on 3-2.
And the wickets continued to tumble with Ali (31) and Ethan Brookes (38) the only batters to score with regularity.
Brookes helped the Pears recover from 80-8 to reach 134 all out as Simon Harmer (4-37), Jamie Porter (3-30) and Shane Snater (3-45) took the wickets.
The dismissal of Essex opener Charlie Allison (23) sparked a dramatic collapse as the visitors slumped from 34-0 to 47-5.
Only Noah Thain (23), Matt Critchley (17) and Kasun Rajitha (13 not out) managed double figures for Essex.
Essex reached 77-6 but lost their final five wickets for the addition of just 33 runs as Waite capped a fine performance by taking the final scalp.
