Worcestershire came a step closer to securing Vitality County Championship Division One security with a hard-fought draw against derby rivals Warwickshire.

The stalemate at Visit Worcestershire New Road earned Worcestershire 13 points, extending their unbeaten streak to four matches and leaving them 40 points clear of second-from-bottom Lancashire.

This means the Pears need just nine points from their final two games against Hampshire and Lancashire to guarantee Division One cricket in 2025.

Read more: Worcestershire's Taylor's career-best forces Warwickshire follow-on

A century from Will Rhodes was the main obstacle to the Pears' victory on the final day.

However, Worcestershire played well throughout, forcing Warwickshire to follow on after Tom Taylor's impressive bowling on the third morning.

They accumulated three bowling and two batting bonus points, adding to their eight points for the draw, following wins against Durham, Kent, and Essex.

Worcestershire demonstrated their resilience by recovering from 67 for 4 on the first day on a seamer-friendly pitch.

Club captain Brett D’Oliveira made his fourth consecutive half-century, supported by solid work at the crease from Matthew Waite, Taylor, Adam Hose, and Jack Home.

Taylor also showed his bowling prowess with a memorable spell of 5 for 6, achieving career-best figures of 6 for 28.

Worcestershire head coach Alan Richardson said: "A lot pleased me about that game.

"For us to have lost the toss and be put in, and to bat at 10.30am on a September morning, is a big challenge, and I thought we did really well.

"The boys stuck together, put together some really nice partnerships, which gave us what I believe was an over par total on that first day.

"That put us in a good position to push on from there."

He added: "That first day was huge for us to try and set us up as much as possible.

"Tom Taylor’s spell was really inspired.

"Two or three weeks ago, he bowled beautifully against Kent and took two or three wickets in the game.

"We said ‘his time will come’ and yesterday that was a crazy 45 minutes but thoroughly deserved for Tommy."

Worcestershire will look to continue their impressive form in the final two matches of the season.