Less predictable was that the Essex and former England fast bowler would get as close as he did. Essex made Worcestershire sweat for their third win of the season yesterday, and though the winning runs eventually came quickly enough, there were times in the afternoon when the visitors must have feared the game would slip away.
Worcester’s attempt to end the match quickly had begun well enough. Ronnie Irani, 92 not out overnight, had added only five to his score when he played too soon at Zaheer Khan’s slower ball. The ball looped back for the bowler to reach across and take a good two-handed catch.
The Essex captain threw back his head in disappointment, and his state of mind cannot have been improved when Ryan ten Doeschate quickly followed him back to the pavilion. Each of the first three balls the South African faced came close to bowling him, and umpire Vanburn Holder probably felt he was being charitable when he gave him out lbw padding up to the fourth, delivered by Khan. With Essex still 45 runs short of making Worcestershire bat again, it looked as though the game was unlikely to go beyond lunch. In Tim Phillips, however, James Foster found a partner intent on sticking around, and with Foster taking as much of Khan’s bowling as he could, leaving the left-handed Phillips to deal with the innocuous Gareth Batty, Essex began to prosper.
Foster was particularly impressive. Classically correct cover drives off Khan and Roger Sillence were among the eight boundaries he scored in reaching his half-century, and with Phillips effectively dropping anchor, it took the new ball to part them. So comfortable had Foster looked, it was a considerable surprise when Matt Mason found the edge of his bat, Graeme Hick taking a fine low catch at second slip.
Enter Tudor. Consecutive boundaries off Mason, both of which bounced only once before crossing the rope, were a reminder of how cleanly the Londoner can strike the ball. The six he hit over long-on off Batty was about timing as much as power, and his 50, off 42 balls, brought the Essex team out of the dressing room to applaud.
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With the home side going into lunch 60 ahead, this was getting serious. It would have been even more worrying for Worcester if Phillips had not spent 47 balls on 25, but even so, their cricket was becoming increasingly ragged in the heat. Steve Davies, touted as a replacement for Geraint Jones in the England team, did himself no favours by dropping Tudor twice.
The first, a difficult diving chance when the batsman gloved a Sillence long-hop down the leg side, could be forgiven, but the second, a straightforward edge heading straight into the hands of first slip off Stuart Wedge, was a bad miss. Wedge had by this time picked up Phillips leg-before to a ball which kept low, while Andre Adams sparred at a Mason delivery just outside off stump to give Hick further catching practice at second slip.
Tudor was joined by Darren Gough, and given the Yorkshireman’s first innings 50, cannot have lacked confidence in his partner’s ability to see him through to his ton. Unfortunately, and not for the first time, the Londoner lost his nerve. Another Sillence long-hop, this time outside off stump, was steered tamely into the hands of Vikram Solanki at a deepish cover point.
Worcestershire’s relief was obvious, and with Phil Jaques following up his first innings 244 with an unbeaten half-century, they made short work of the run chase.