[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

One-Day Cup, North Group

vs Durham

New Road, Worcester

Durham innings: The Pears won the toss and put Durham in to bat on a grey, louring day in which the weather was almost certain to have a say. After a bright start for the visitors, Charlie Morris deceived Scott Steel with a delivery that nipped back in, bowling the opener for 14 as he attempted a drive. Graham Clark soon joined him back in the pavilion after pulling a short ball from Josh Tongue straight to deep square leg, bringing antipodean sanding-merchant Cameron Bancroft to the crease with two unbeaten centuries to his name in the first two games. However, ten overs later the Aussie was dismissed for the first time in the competition by Daryl Mitchell after a mistimed drive was held at short third man, and with Durham 78-3, suddenly Worcestershire had a good grip on the game. Alex Lees brought up a half-century for the visitors as they looked to steady the ship and rebuild, but as storm clouds gathered over New Road it looked increasingly like Durham weren't scoring at a quick enough rate to set a serious total in a rain-affected match, and when Dolly tempted Gareth Harte to take a stride down the pitch and be promptly stumped by Ben Cox, it did their Duckworth-Lewis calculation no good whatsoever. They managed just two more runs to take the tally to 114-4 off twenty-seven overs before the heavens opened at one o'clock and the covers came on.

Worcs innings: The covers came on, and the covers stayed on for over four hours. When at last the players emerged a little after five o'clock, it was to chase a Duckworth-Lewis amended total of 152 in twenty-four overs; a fairly straightforward ask in the circumstances, and one that Riki Wessels and Hamish Rutherford looked like making short work of for the first half-hour. But there's seldom such a thing as a simple run-chase for the Pears, and when Rutherford edged behind for 33, having already struck two towering sixes in an aggressive innings, it gave Durham the opening they needed. In the space of four overs, Worcs lost four wickets for ten runs, collapsing from 71-1 to 81-5 to give the visitors the ascendancy, and it required a patient partnership from Ben Cox and Ross Whiteley to drag things back in our favour. Whiteley eventually edged behind for a run-a-ball 26, bringing Ed Barnard to the crease, but thankfully there was no further drama as the seventh-wicket pair shepherded Worcestershire home with ten balls to spare.

Worcestershire WIN by four wickets (D/L)

The Verdict: A hard-fought win against an in-form side, and a satisfying one too, after Worcs were denied by Duckworth Lewis in last year's game. Durham will naturally feel hard done by, having come out with the intention of batting a full fifty overs and being denied the chance to accelerate after a slow, steady platform was built, but that's the nature of white-ball cricket in April: you play with one eye on the forecast. It's a point of concern that for the third match in a row, the Pears have managed a batting collapse of some kind, but ultimately strength in depth came to the rescue, and this is precisely the result that was needed after Sunday. Here's hoping we can repeat it at Wantage Road on Friday.