WORCESTERSHIRE'S batsmen made brisk progress on a rain-delayed third day of their match against Oxford UCCE in The Parks yesterday.

Resuming on 256-3 in their first innings in reply to the students' 231, after a late start the County had moved on to 272-3 after 62 overs with skipper Ben Smith unbeaten on 41 and Kadeer Ali on five.

Yesterday, Stephen Peters and Anurag Singh took their overnight stand to 155 before Singh fell to medium pacer Stuart Airey for 77, made off 120 balls with 13 boundaries.

Peters fell to England Under-19 off-spinner Paul McMahon after an increasingly confident innings of 87 from 110 deliveries including 12 fours.

Vikram Solanki departed just before the close, bowled by McMahon for 41 from 47 balls with seven boundaries, leaving new batsman Kadeer hoping to press his claims for a first-team place.