WORCESTERSHIRE stormed to the top of the LV= County Championship Division Two table as they thumped Derbyshire by an innings and 64 runs.
Skipper Daryl Mitchell declared on the overnight score of 432-9, a lead of 213, giving his side a full 96 overs to try and take the ten wickets they needed for a chance of victory.
But a combination of tight bowling and excellent fielding and catching saw Worcestershire skittle the hosts for just 149 by mid-afternoon with Pakistan off-spinner, Saeed Ajmal, taking 4-40 to finish with match figures of 8-100.
Gareth Andrew provided the breakthrough in just the third over as he tempted former Worcestershire opener Stephen Moore to edge to slip where Mitchell took a fine low catch.
Charlie Morris then trapped fellow opener Billy Godleman in front for 10 to leave the visitors 23-2.
In his next over the 21-year-old took the vital wicket of West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who fell to another excellent low catch in the slips from Tom Kohler-Cadmore for just four as Derbyshire were left reeling on 29-3.
Captain Wayne Madsen and Chesney Hughes dug in for the next hour, as Derbyshire scored at less than two runs an over, but on the stroke of lunch Ajmal showed why he is a match-winner by coaxing Hughes to edge to Mitchell at slip, as he failed to combat a ball which bounced and turned.
After the break Madsen and Wes Durston hit a flurry of boundaries, but after taking the score to 93-4, Ajmal struck again as Durston (21) guided the ball into the hands of the ever-reliable skipper in the slips.
In his next over, 36-year-old Ajmal had another as removed wicket-keeper Dan Hodgson LBW for just one to leave Derbyshire struggling on 97-6.
At the other end, first innings centurion Madsen continued to look comfortable as he reached his fifty, but moments after raising his bat, his partner David Wainwright was run out by Ross Whiteley from the boundary as he attempted a risky second run.
Madsen became Ajmal’s fourth wicket shortly after, caught in front, for 56 and Tim Groenewald fell for a duck to Jack Shantry as the wickets began to tumble.
Shantry then had the final say in his next over as he knocked Mark Footitt’s stumps over to give Worcestershire a remarkable victory inside two and a half days of cricket, after the opening day was virtually washed out.
With Hampshire’s rain-hit game against Surrey ending in a draw, Worcestershire now top the table with 56 points, two ahead of the south coast side who have also played a game more.