ALL eyes were on Kabir Ali and Matt Mason today as Worcestershire aimed to close out an unlikely victory over Yorkshire.
The County's pace attack required four more wickets at New Road to win a Frizzell County Championship Division Two match that still favoured the Tykes at stumps last night.
But Kabir stung the White Rose county with four timely wickets as the visitors closed on 222-6 -- still needing another 46 for victory.
And if the England one-day seamer helps successfully whittle off the Yorkshire tail, Worcestershire will close the margin on division leaders Durham, who lost their grip at the top with an innings defeat against Lancashire.
The pendulum swung away from the home side yesterday after losing their remaining eight second innings wickets in 39 overs.
They closed on 222 all out with Tim Bresnan leading the way with a career best 4-52.
A resolute 67 by Australian batsman Phil Jaques gave Yorkshire the advantage, but the County snatched wickets regularly on a pitch intermittently offering steep bounce.
Opener Matthew Wood never looked comfortable and edged to second slip in Kabir's fourth over, but Joe Sayers showed the right attitude until Mason had him caught by skipper Gareth Batty at first slip for 24.
Anthony McGrath batted through the troubles for 41 and Worcestershire faced a double problem as the match began to slip away from their grasp.
Their supporting seamers, Nadeem Malik and Zander de Bruyn, lacked penetration and a flagging over-rate threatened a points deduction at the end of the match.
But Kabir returned after tea and changed the match situation. McGrath fended a brutal delivery to wicketkeeper James Pipe and Richard Pyrah, top scorer with 78 in the first innings, stepped in front of a straight delivery.
Craig White, who did not field because of a blow on the knee, then chipped in with 27 and propped up a crucial partnership of 79 until a tiring attack hit back in the closing overs.
Off-spinner Batty bowled Jaques as the left hander attempted to sweep and White became another victim for the Pipe-Kabir combination.
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