Worcestershire 447 (D'Oliveira 90, Hose 75, Waite 53*, Libby 52, Milnes 4-81) beat Kent 196 (Milnes 50*, Hannon-Dalby 3-27) and 249 (Benjamin 77, Taylor 5-56) by an innings and two runs
Worcestershire completed an innings-and-two-runs demolition of Kent on the third day of their Rothesay County Championship fixture at New Road.
Brett D'Oliveira's side followed up an impressive win over Middlesex at Lord's with another strong performance to see off a Kent side which were second-best in all departments and remain without a win after three games.
After Worcestershire's first innings ended at 447 in the first over of the day, Kent were bowled out second time round for 249. Seventh-wicket pair Chris Benjamin, who made 77 off 105 balls, and Keith Dudgeon (41 off 52) added 71 but none of the top six passed 31, three of them swept away by Tom Taylor who finished with 5 for 56.
Worcestershire resumed on the third morning on 441 for 9 and added just six runs before Olly Hannon-Dalby was bowled by Matt Parkinson. That left Kent needing to find 251 to avoid an innings defeat and effectively to bat for the best part of two days. Their hopes of doing so soon evaporated with the loss of four wickets in 17 overs.
Taylor took the first three in a sizzling opening spell of 7-1-27-3. Ben Dawkins (an injury substitute for Ben Compton, who dislocated finger) edged to Ethan Brookes at second slip. Sam Northeast nicked to wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick and Tawanda Muyeye was lbw playing across the line. Zak Crawley, having been dropped on 8 by Taylor at mid-on off Hannon-Dalby, collected 31 from 57 balls but then drove at a wide ball from Beyers Swanepoel and inside-edged to Roderick.
Daniel Bell-Drummond and Joey Evison added 36 up to lunch but the interval merely delayed Kent's implosion. Bell-Drummond fell lbw to the second ball of the afternoon, a Hannon-Dalby in-ducker. Taylor quickly added his fourth wicket when Evison supplied Roderick's eighth victim of the match. Matt Milnes edged Waite to second slip where Brookes took another fine catch.
Benjamin and Dudgeon showed degrees of application and judgment that had eluded their top-order colleagues. They added 71 in 23 overs but the powerhouse Taylor had not finished. He prised enough movement from a 51-overs old ball to find Dudgeon's edge and supply Roderick with his ninth catch of the game, equalling the record for a Worcestershire keeper.
When Swanepoel plucked out Parkinson's off stump, last pair Benjamin and Mikey Cohen had to find 31 to make Worcestershire bat again - and a few more to set them a challenging target. Benjamin swung D'Oliveira over midwicket for six but Brookes wrapped up the innings with an lbw decision against Benjamin on the stroke of tea.
