Gareth Roderick's first century of the campaign gave Worcestershire the advantage after England spinner Shoaib Bashir caused a minor setback on day three of the Vitality County Championship match with Somerset at Kidderminster.
Roderick demonstrated a combination of resolute defence and assertive stroke play, contributing to Worcestershire's achievement of a first innings lead of 142. His partnership of 194 with Jake Libby was instrumental in Worcestershire securing four batting bonus points.
Bashir had experienced a relatively quiet start to the season, having taken 17 wickets in his opening three Tests in India, with two wickets in matches against Surrey at The Oval and Nottinghamshire at Taunton. He quickly found his rhythm on a wicket offering some turn, removing Libby and Kashif Ali in quick succession, and posed a challenge to all the batters during a 28-over spell.
Somerset was left with three overs to bat and Jason Holder made an early breakthrough, dismissing Sean Dickson.
The Libby-Roderick partnership demonstrated their continued success since the latter's promotion to open after five games last season. Libby demonstrated his batting prowess once more before being dismissed three runs short of his second century of the season.
He is currently in the best possible form and has accumulated 349 runs so far this summer, with an average of 69.80. The contributions from Adam Hose, club captain Brett D'Oliveira and Joe Leach at the lower order ensured Worcestershire was able to capitalise on their advantage.
The efforts of the ground staff enabled play to commence at 12:10 p.m. following heavy overnight rainfall, with only 10 of the possible 96 overs lost. Worcestershire resumed on 107 for one, with the current partnership between Libby and Roderick worth 84 runs.
The century partnership was achieved in just 177 balls, with both batters displaying a high level of comfort and scoring freely. Roderick reached his half-century from 115 balls with a powerful back-foot square drive, his eighth four of the morning, which resulted in Kasey Aldridge being dismissed. Roderick was fortunate to score four runs by edging Migael Pretorius during a challenging period of play.
Libby appeared on course to reach three figures, but the introduction of spin from Bashir led to his downfall. He attempted to drive a delivery that turned and returned to the bowler, resulting in a dismissal. His innings spanned 189 balls and included 16 boundaries.
Bashir struck again when the in-form Kashif Ali, who had struck him for six over long on, played back to another delivery which spun back in and was plumb lbw. A third wicket fell in quick succession when Rob Jones played forward and was bowled for a second-ball duck, giving Pretorious a deserved scalp.
Adam Hose commenced his innings in an aggressive manner, achieving seven runs from his first seven scoring shots. He reached 39 and contributed to Worcestershire's progress towards three batting bonus points before he was dismissed by a catch at wide first slip.
Roderick achieved his century in the final over before the second new ball was taken with a single to mid-on off Bashir. He had sufficient time to strike Bashir for a straight six before attempting to hit the ball over the top and picking out mid-off on 122.
Jason Holder (12) was dismissed LBW to Lewis Gregory, who was bowling back. Matthew Waite (5) was bowled out attempting a big hit off the same bowler. D'Oliveira, who had reached his first half-century of the summer, and Leach demonstrated a clear intent to surpass the 400-run mark and secure the four points.
Their partnership yielded 84 runs in 16 overs before D'Oliveira was dismissed caught behind by Aldridge, resulting in the team's declaration. There was still time for Holder to have Dickson caught behind by the aforementioned Roderick.