Worcestershire 2nd XI v Warwickshire 2nd XI Match Report

Having won the toss and electing to put the Rapids into bat first, the Bears bowling attack landed an early blow towards the end of the 3rd over when veteran seamer Oliver Hannon-Dalby (1/33) induced an outside edge from Dan Lategan (7) which guided the ball straight into the awaiting gloves of wicketkeeper Kai Smith.

With just 10 runs on the board at this stage, the hosts desperately needed a couple of partnerships in order to steady the ship, and that’s precisely what they got courtesy of the ever reliable Jake Libby (42) who combined nicely with Isaac Mohammed (20) and Gennaro Reddy (22) to take his side up to a far more stable score of 74/2 at the culmination of the 10th over.

The next 4 overs would see the departure of both Libby and Reddy in quick succession to the right-arm seam bowling of Nathan Gilchrist (2/40) and the left-arm finger spin of Jack Pidgeon (2/30) respectively, but the enterprising middle order trio of Rehaan Edavalath (33*), Ben Allison (12) and Jack Home (18*) struck a flurry of important boundaries in the death overs to ultimately take the home side up to a competitive total of 159/5.

In response to their target of 160, the Bears couldn’t have asked for a much better start to their chase, as the dynamic opening pairing of Kai Smith (68) and Omaris Khan (29) smashed a quickfire 94 run partnership from the first 53 deliveries of the reply to put their side in complete and utter control with over half of the innings itself still remaining.

Unfortunately for the visitors, this swashbuckling top order stand would be brought to a rather abrupt halt towards the end of the 9th over when left-arm finger spinner Conner Haddow (1/27) trapped the aforementioned Khan lbw, but, if anything, this only seemed to galvanise the swashbuckling Smith even further as the impressive Emirati wicketkeeper smashed Haddow and Ben Allison (1/35) for two sizeable sixes in the second half of the innings to take the Bears close to the 130-run mark in the 12th over.

To their credit, the Worcestershire bowling attack showed good fight throughout course of the next 4 overs, as Allison and fellow seamer Harry Darley (3/30) dismissed Smith, Hamza Shaikh (17), Vansh Jani (0) and Oli Dandy (5) in rapid succession, but by this point, the damage had already been well and truly done, and the Bears’ 6th wicket pairing of Theo Wylie (10*) and Michael Booth (7*) polished off the remaining 8 runs with ease to secure their side’s fifth victory of the tournament with 21 deliveries of the chase still remaining.

The Worcestershire 2nd XI will look to get back to winning ways in less than 24 hours time when Gloucestershire make the short journey north to take on the Rapids at Stourport-on-Severn Cricket Club.