Shropshire's Ed Barnard leading Worcestershire's recovery
Veteran Leicestershire seamer Chris Wright took three for 33 as Worcestershire closed on 118 for four after a rain-affected opening day of the LV= County Championship season at the Uptonsteel County Ground in Leicester.
The first two scheduled sessions were lost to a series of squally showers before the Division Two rivals squeezed in 26 overs either side of another stoppage.
After opting to bat first on what looked like a good batting surface, Worcestershire slipped to 32 for three, with former Warwickshire batsman Ed Pollock and Pakistan Test No 3 Azhar Ali both out for single-figure scores on debut.
They stumbled further to 45 for four before Damian D’Oliveira (34 not out) and Ed Barnard (41 not out) fought back in an unbroken stand of 73, although both were dropped in the slips.
Shrewsbury ace Barnard said: “There were a few early-season nerves and the rain delay didn’t make for an easy start. Chris Wright is always going to be effective in those conditions and Hendricks is a bowler with Test experience, so it was difficult at the start, which we knew it would be. But it was nice to get out there and get a few runs and put the pressure back on their bowlers a bit.
“Dolly and I tried to play quick-tempo cricket, which was possible with a quick outfield and a good cricket wicket where it came on to the bat quite well.
“It was good to see Dolly playing that kind of innings in his first game as captain because it is a day he has been building towards for a while, a very proud day for him and his family.
“But it was quite hard for an early season pitch and we felt that once we were through the first 10 or 15 overs it would get a bit easier, which I think it did a little bit.”
