Somerset vs Worcestershire match report: Marcus Trescothick left 'shell-shocked' by his winless side's collapse

Somerset 250 & 90 Worcestershire 402 (Worcs win by innings and 62 runs)

Charlie Morris ended the match with career-best figures of 9 for 109 (Getty Images)

Somerset captain Marcus Trescothick admitted he was “shell-shocked” after seeing his team lose their third game of the new season.

Worcestershire, having been in good positions in their opening two matches only to let the opportunity slip, grasped this one with both hands, seeing off Somerset with the best part of five sessions to spare to give an early fillip to their survival hopes.

Since the Championship split into two divisions, almost half the promoted teams have gone down after one season. It took Worcestershire until July to register their solitary win when their last adventure in Division One ended in relegation in 2012, so to have broken their duck in the first week in May is clearly encouraging.

Somerset rolled over so meekly it was embarrassing, bowled out for 90 in 32 overs in their second innings after the match was turned on its head in slightly more than two sessions. Worcestershire had been six down in their first innings and still nine runs behind at tea on the second day.

Yet Somerset, after conceding 161 runs in the final session on Monday, when Ben Cox and Joe Leach took their bowling apart, batted for a second time as if a first-innings deficit of 152 was an impossible barrier, with only James Hildreth showing much appetite for a fight after Worcestershire’s Leach and Charlie Morris had used the new ball superbly to reduce them to 19 for 5.

Morris, who bowls with accuracy at a good pace, finished with 4 for 38 for career-best match figures of 9 for 109. Leach added two to his first-innings three and Jack Shantry wrapped things up with four wickets in the space of 17 balls.

“To get a win early in the campaign is important for confidence,” Worcestershire’s director of cricket, Steve Rhodes, said. “I know Somerset are going through a tough spell but they are still a battle-hardened Division One side.”

A tough time might sound like an understatement to Somerset, who have lost their first three matches since Matthew Maynard took charge.

“I’m a little bit shell-shocked, really,” Trescothick, said. “I can’t remember ever losing three Championship matches on the bounce. We haven’t performed anywhere near the level we expect over the three days. We’ve got a bit of soul-searching to do.”