A LATE surge of wickets by Worcestershire all-rounder Ed Barnard turned the opening day of the County Championship Division One match with Lancashire on its head.

Australian paceman Joe Mennie ripped through the middle order as the bottom-placed hosts were bowled out for 247 in 63.5 overs despite a fine 118 from Daryl Mitchell.

But four wickets in 16 balls by Barnard at Blackfinch New Road saw Lancashire nosedive from a comfortable 77-0 to 86-5 by the close.

Mennie took 4-43 from 12 overs to justify acting skipper Dane Villas’ decision to bowl first via an uncontested toss with Jordan Clark (4-56) mopping up the lower order.

But then came the Barnard blast as Stephen Parry, Haseeb Hammed, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Rob Jones were all swiftly dismissed for ducks.

Worcestershire’s batting plight would have been worse but for the typical endurance and defiance displayed by Mitchell in his first Championship century of 2018.

He moved into the top 10 of the County's all-time century-makers in first-class cricket, moving level on 31 alongside Basil D’Oliveira and Alan Ormrod.

Mitchell also scored a century against Lancashire in the Royal London One-Day Cup match between the two counties in Worcester last month.

He fought a virtual lone hand until support from Barnard (21) and Ross Whiteley (32) in rescuing his side from 81-5 via stands of 66 and 79 for the sixth and seventh wickets respectively.

Opener Martin Guptill was dismissed for only two on his County debut.

The New Zealander tried to leave a Graham Onions delivery which followed him as he edged through to keeper Vilas.

Tom Bailey bowled Tom Fell (10) before first change Mennie inflicted major damage.

He clipped the off bail of Joe Clarke (21) and then struck twice in two balls as acting captain Brett D’Oliveira was lbw for eight and keeper Ben Cox (0) nicked to Vilas.

Barnard dug in to help Mitchell retrieve the situation before being bowled by Mennie.

Whiteley, in his first Championship game of the season, hit two sixes before he was yorked by Clark who then polished off the innings.

He had Charlie Morris (0) caught behind and Steve Magoffin (0) held at cover before Mitchell skied a chance to Bailey at cover.

Lancashire's Alex Davies (43) shared an untroubled opening stand of 77 with Keaton Jennings before he pulled a Morris delivery and Guptill pulled off a diving catch at mid-wicket.

Parry gave a return catch to Barnard and Hameed offered no shot before Chanderpaul drilled the next delivery to Pat Brown at point.

Jones survived the hat-trick ball but also fell victim to Barnard lbw to the final ball of the day.