Worcestershire all-rounder Tom Taylor's career-best bowling performance was a catalyst in forcing derby rivals Warwickshire to follow on.

Taylor picked up five wickets in his deadly spell as the Bears were bowled out for 128 in 42.2 overs in their first innings at Visit Worcestershire New Road.

The 29-year-old finished with figures of 11-2-28-6, surpassing his previous best of 6-47 for Leicestershire against Sussex at Hove in April 2019.


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His morning analysis was 5-6 from five overs.

Taylor added one more to the tally in Warwickshire’s second innings, taking his Championship tally to 23 in only his fifth appearance for the Pears.

Warwickshire followed on 179 runs in arrears and provided sterner opposition with captain Alex Davies and Will Rhodes both making sizeable contributions.

But Matthew Waite and Ethan Brookes, who also both bowled impressively, picked up a wicket apiece as the Bears closed on 171-3 after rain halted proceedings shortly after tea.

All-rounder Taylor said: "The main is we’ve put ourselves in a great position to win the game.

"That’s the main thing.

"We set out this morning to put some real pressure on, on a wicket that will do a little bit more in the first session.

"We wanted to get a couple of early wickets and keep them behind in the game for as long as possible."

He added: "We weren’t expecting it to go like it did but that was the way we saw as our best chance of winning the game and putting some real pressure on them.

"You have to be patient but stick on a couple more wickets tomorrow and then you are talking about taking that pressure and putting it into their dressing room and really trying to drive that home.

"For me, it was just one of those days.

"I just wanted to put some pressure on them and bowl as well as possible.

"It was a dream start for us and personally it came out nicely and it was nice to get a few wickets and put us in a good position."