| LV= County Championship Division Two, Headingley (day two) |
| Worcestershire 301-6 (85.1 overs): D’Oliveira 103, Kashif Ali 93; Coad 2-38, Hill 2-43 |
| Yorkshire: Yet to bat |
| Yorkshire 2 pts, Worcestershire 2 pts |
| Match scorecard |
Worcestershire have been promoted back to Division One of the County Championship – for a record seventh time.
Aided by skipper Brett D’Oliveira completing his century, Alan Richardson’s side passed 300 against Yorkshire at Headingley to pick up the second batting bonus point they needed to edge out third-placed Leicestershire.
Alongside already crowned Division Two champions Durham, the Pears will be back playing top flight cricket again next season for the first time since being relegated for a sixth time – also a record – in 2018.
It is six years to the day since they were last promoted in 2017.
Skipper D’Oliveira missed out on the opportunity to hit the promotion-sealing run when, with just one needed, he was out leg before wicket to Matt Milnes.
The honour was passed instead to young spinner Josh Baker, who clipped two runs off Milnes, before holing out a ball later.
After the loss of play on day one, more is expected on day two, with the forecast Storm Agnes expected to hit Leeds early this afternoon.
Pears latest promotion against the odds
Worcestershire already held the record for the most promotions since the County Championship became a two-division structure in 2000.
Their total of six was already one better than Nottinghamshire (five), while Essex, Lancashire and Northants have all done it four times.
But this seventh success, six years on from doing it for the last time under former boss Steve Rhodes in 2017, is their longest between promotions.
It is also perhaps the most surprising, given all that has gone on behind the scenes over the past year or more, in the continued battle to keep ahead financially in the period following the Covid pandemic.
Coach Alex Gidman left last winter, to be replaced by his deputy Richardson – and the club had to wait a long time before finally tempting former Warwickshire and England boss Ashley Giles to arrive as chief executive.
They have also been hit by the announced departure of several players, most notably England paceman Josh Tongue, fellow fast bowler Dillon Pennington and batter Jack Haynes to Nottinghamshire.
But all three – along with another former Pears player Joe Clarke – will now be on the same stage at Trent Bridge next season.
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