County Championship: Azhar Ali and Jack Haynes share record stand as Pears grind down Leicestershire

Azhar Ali scored a superb double hundred as he and fellow centurion Jack Haynes rewrote the record books on day two of the County Championship Division Two match with Leicestershire at New Road.

Pakistan Test batter Azhar and former England Under-19s international Haynes put on 281 for the third wicket - a record partnership against Leicestershire, surpassing the 278 by Cyril Walters and Harold Gibbons in 1934.

Their efforts were largely responsible for Worcestershire totalling 456-3 by the close - a lead of 308.

Haynes was eventually dismissed for 127 but Azhar went on to bring up his double ton in the final over of the day with a cover drive for four off Rehan Ahmed.

It was completed from 328 balls with one six and 18 fours, after he had shared in another century stand with Brett D'Oliveira (52 not out).

Azhar arrived at New Road after a successful Test series against Australia which included a marathon 185 spanning 11 hours at Rawalpindi.

The 37-year-old initially found it a challenge acclimatising to English conditions and his opening six innings yielded 34 runs.

But he has flourished since hitting 92 against a Durham attack including Ben Stokes, and for the majority of the time he has been in partnership with Haynes.

The pair had been together for stands of 195 (Durham) and 187 (Derbyshire) before joining forces for this marathon effort.

Haynes has been quick to acknowledge the influence on his batting this summer of Azhar as he has converted promising innings into major contributions.

His maiden hundred came in the Durham game and this was the Worcester-born batter's third century in successive matches.

He was the first Worcestershire player to achieve that feat since Daryl Mitchell in 2017.

Play did not get underway until 13:10 BST but the third-wicket pair made up for lost time by scoring 148 runs during the afternoon session.

Report supplied by the ECB Reporters' Network.