STEPHEN Moore believed a touch of inspiration was all Worcestershire needed to step out of their County Championship doldrums -- step forward Shoaib Akhtar.

The Pakistani fast bowler ripped the heart out of the Northamptonshire innings at New Road yesterday, giving the County a huge advantage at stumps on day one.

Shoaib's fearsome pace led to him reeling in 5-55, his second consecutive five-wicket haul against Northants in the four-day game, as the visitors crashed to 189 all out.

Moore remained at the crease on 41 not out as Worcestershire reached 74-2 in reply before bad light stopped play.

After losing three successive Championship games, the chances of promotion from Division Two had slipped from the County's grasp.

But 24-year-old Moore insists a winning run could just be around the corner and he believes a single individual can spark the change in fortunes.

"With the amount of cricket we play, it's all about momentum," Moore said. "It's about getting that back into our season. It only takes a couple of wins.

"Sometimes, a special performance from one player is all it takes to change things. I think that is what we are looking for -- a bit of inspiration."

Today, future England hopeful Moore added 21 more runs before being caught by Riki Wessels off Ben Phillips' bowling, a key wicket for Northamptonshire with the County on 95.

South African Zander de Bruyn, desperately seeking runs in the four-day game, slipped up again when he was bowled by Damien Wright for just six.

Ben Smith remained at the crease with Gareth Batty as the game headed towards lunch with Worcestershire on 110-4 from 41 overs.

In the County's reply yesterday, Vikram Solanki had moved up the order to open with Moore but made only 17 before edging Johann Louw to second slip.

And the out-of-form Graeme Hick registered his second successive Championship duck when lbw to Phillips.

Earlier, Shoaib's performance was almost bizarre. In an erratic opening spell of 4-1-41-1, he had Bilal Shafayat caught at first slip and indulged in a short-pitched barrage as Rob White hooked him for six and picked off five other boundaries in the space of two overs.

Shoaib found his form in the afternoon. As at Northampton, he bowled fast and straight to capture three wickets for one run in five balls.

David Sales (31) and Wright (0) were beaten for pace, while Wessels (13) nicked a drive to wicket-keeper James Pipe.

With Northamptonshire unexpectedly knocked out of their stride, the improving Nadeem Malik (3-44) pressed home Worcestershire's advantage when Moore, low to his right at gully, and Pipe held sharp chances to remove Monty Panesar and Phillips.

Finally, Shoaib came back for only his ninth over of the day and, with his second ball, he bounced out Louw with a wicked delivery that flicked the South African's glove and gave Pipe his third catch of the innings.