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Worcestershire’s Beyers Swanepoel hinted that the changing nature of the surface at Cheltenham has made life challenging for his bowling unit as the visitors saw their pursuit of a pivotal Rothesay County Championship victory thrown off course at the College Ground on a turgid third day. Coming into the morning well poised in the Division Two clash, Worcestershire had skipper Brett D’Oliveira (83) and Beyers Swanepoel (42) for helping their side into a 117-run lead. In the face of a Sir Kishore marathon 31 over spell, the Pears showed resilience to get ahead in the game but were made to wait until mid-afternoon for a breakthrough with the ball when Swanepoel came up trumps with two wickets in successive deliveries. As the day wore on, the challenge grew for Worcestershire’s bowling attack to extract any assistance from a surface that flattened out and aided the home side’s batting line-up, who took a 131-run lead into the fourth day’s play. Despite the changing nature of the surface, Swanepoel said the bowlers stuck at their task admirably and was pleased with his individual contribution. “I think me and Dolly started very well with the fifty partnership there up front. “It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t tough to score. It didn’t spin as much as we thought, especially on day three when you think on a used pitch it should be spinning a lot, but I think the rain on day one covered the spin a bit. “And then getting back into the field bowling wise the wicket felt flat. “We didn’t get a lot of spin from positions where we felt we might get it, so the wider you go, the more spin there was “We got a little bit of seam movement, and the new ball was doing a bit, so we did try to capitalise on it, but obviously they got off to a good start, and then we had to graft for those two wickets. “That was probably one of my best spells that I have bowled for Worcestershire. I think I just had to keep it tight and not leak too many runs because it’s so flat, you don’t want to have to put pressure on the other bowlers.” Defied by weighty contributions from Miles Hammond (57), Ollie Price (63) and James Bracey (45), the visiting seam quartet continued to hustle in on an elongated third day in the sun. Tom Taylor provided a spark late on in the day when the seamer trapped Hammond in front LBW, but the Pears’ valiant efforts will need to extend into the final morning if they are to force a result. Swanepoel assured that his fellow bowlers will give it their all and endeavour to create opportunities on a docile surface. “We need to bowl well as a collective and just hit out straps and then, like we saw today you can reap the rewards like we did, getting those few wickets. “I think it didn’t turn as much as we felt looking at the coming day one. “We were happy not to bat first because we thought it was just going to rag. “I don’t think it’s going to turn and break up that much as we were looking for what it did on day three, and on day four it feels like it’ll just be flat. “Obviously, it was tough, but we will rest up and go again tomorrow.”