Watch: Worcestershire were fined five penalty runs after fast bowler Dillon Pennington threw the ball at Gloucestershire batter Jack Taylor. Pennington dismissed Taylor off the very next ball in a bizarre passage of play during a tense finish to the County Championship clash in Cheltenham yesterday (July 29).

Put into bat after losing the toss, Worcestershire got off to a terrible start as three of their top four made ducks, but the lower middle order and the tail took them to 406.

Gloucestershire could only manage 301 in their first innings, conceding a 105-run lead. Taylor was out first ball, lbw to Pennington, coming in at No.7.

Worcestershire’s top order fared better with the bat in the second innings as they posted 316-8, setting up a target of 422 for Gloucestershire.

At 130-5 during the chase, Gloucestershire were dead and buried when Taylor played a counter-attacking innings. He hit 18 fours in 91 balls in an innings of 98. The passage leading up to his dismissal, though, was quite bizarre.

Pennington bowled a full delivery that Taylor drove back at him. He fielded the ball in his follow-through and threw it back at Taylor with seemingly no intention of hitting the stumps or running him out.

Consequently, Worcestershire were fined five penalty runs in accordance with Law 41.5 (Deliberate distraction, deception or obstruction of batter).

However, Taylor attempted another extravagant drive off the next ball: this time the ball caught his inside edge and crashed into the stumps, cutting short his entertaining innings just short of a hundred.

Gloucestershire eventually finished on 311 and lost the game by 110 runs.

Watch Pennington cop five penalty runs for dangerous throw and dismiss Taylor very next ball:

WHAT DRAMA

Dillon Pennington is fined five penalty runs for throwing the ball at Jack Taylor then gets him out the next ball on 98!!#LVCountyChamp pic.twitter.com/c6oND3tnbL

— LV= Insurance County Championship (@CountyChamp) July 29, 2023

Subscribe to the Wisden Cricket YouTube channel for post-match analysis, player interviews, and much more.