[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

T20 Blast, North Group

vs Nottinghamshire

Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Worcs innings: The Pears won the toss and elected to bat on a used pitch, bathed by Thursday evening sunshine on a fine July night. Batting was clearly a tricky proposition from the word go, and Riki Wessels did well to get a couple of boundaries from the first over against his former club, then raced to 24 off 31 balls before skying a Harry Gurney delivery to short fine leg. Callum Ferguson followed him back to the pavilion shortly after when he was bowled off an inside-edge for 5 off the last ball of the powerplay, but Martin Guptill and Moeen Ali - both making their first appearance of the season in Worcestershire colours - kept the scoreboard ticking over, and the Pears would have been very happy with their 78-2 at the halfway mark. However, when Guptill was caught and bowled off a low full-toss for 27, it opened the door for the home side, and within a few overs the visitors had collapsed to 102-6. With the innings teetering, it required Ben Cox to steady the ship, and Ed Barnard to play his career-best T20 knock, knocking sixes down the ground and ramping the ball to the boundary with ease, dragging Worcs up to a very handy total of 161-6 off the twenty.

Notts innings: The wicket that every Pears fan wanted was the first to fall, as Joe Clarke drilled a wide ball from Dillon Pennington straight to cover for 5. The following over, Ben Duckett perished in precisely the same way for 2, giving Pat Brown his first scalp of this year's competition, and leaving Notts 16-2. However, in a cagey run-chase the hosts managed to consolidate from there, and Worcs did their best to keep the brakes on as Alex Hales proved an inevitable threat. But after completing his half-century, Hales was comprehensively bowled by Ed Barnard for 52, and the young all-rounder continued to turn in his best performance of the season in any format as the run-rate climbed and the wickets kept tumbling. It was a foregone conclusion by the last few overs, and Worcestershire couldn't have hoped for a better start to their defence of the T20 title.

Worcestershire WIN by twenty-eight runs

The Verdict: In the middle of what's rapidly becoming a miserable season, the T20 Blast is a small ray of hope for the Pears, and we're off to a flyer. Dillon Pennington looks a bit rusty, but great to see Pat Brown back in the thick of it, with no signs yet that batsmen are sussing his tricks out. Here's hoping for another memorable campaign.