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T20 Blast, North Group

vs Northamptonshire

Wantage Road, Northampton

Worcs innings: Worcestershire won the toss and elected to bat on a golden Wednesday evening at Wantage Road. Pears debutant Michael Bracewell got off the mark with a wristy leg-side blow for six, but perished trying to repeat the trick next ball; Brett D'Oliveira likewise shone with fulgurous brevity and effect, plundering back-to-back boundaries off David Willey - the first a hop and a skip to loft the ball over cover, the second lashed all along the carpet through cover-point - before being bowled by Tom Taylor for 11 on the scoop. But making his Blast debut for the county, Adam Hose got right into his work with a straight drive for four along the ground like a bullet, and formed a productive partnership (including some brutal leg-side slogging) with Jack Haynes until the latter was caught for 27 off 16 balls. New man Kashif Ali soon joined in the fun, gracing cow corner with a couple of sixes until he was caught for 16, while Hose completed his half-century off 34 balls (en route to a fantastic 61) as Worcs navigated to 136-4 at the three-quarter mark. With Ben Cox anchoring the final five overs, Ed Pollock showed a glimpse of what he can achieve in his new role as finisher as he cut his first ball for four, then dished out a classic Pollocking down on one knee with a couple of enormous leg-side maximums. When that pair perished for 17 and 23 respectively, debutant Usama Mir helped the subsiding innings along by sending a first-ball full toss over the square leg rope, then ramping David Willey for an audacious four, before hooking Willey's next delivery for a stratospheric six, crucially pushing the Pears up to 196-9 off the twenty; a little light of the Wantage Road par of 200, but still firmly in the territory of "runs on the board".

Northants innings: Tough going in the powerplay for the bowlers, as Chris Lynn and Ricardo Vasconcelos rattled along north of ten an over; Mitchell Stanley soon had Lynn caught for 28 pulling into the deep, but it barely made a dent in the scoring. Where the hosts had relied almost entirely on seamers, Worcs returned to their time-honoured strategy of spin in the middle overs, and with his fourth delivery Mir produced a quick, skiddy ball that bowled Vasconcelos for 32, sparking a sudden pendulum swing. In the following over, Josh Cobb holed out for 2 off Pat Brown, and after some very tight bowling at the midway point tightened the screw, Mir commenced his second over by having Saif Zaib caught reverse-sweeping for 2. 90-1 had become 99-4, and though potent resistance remained in the form of David Willey, when Dolly had him caught for 36 in the next over Northants were in heaps of bother. The graceful Mushtaq Ahmed action of Usama Mir - both arms pointing skyward in the delivery stride, like a clock striking twelve - saw Rob Keogh caught for 2, reducing the home side to 116-6, and from there it was largely a foregone conclusion. Dolly accounted for Lewis MacManus and James Sales to make a three-wicket haul, but though a lower-order knock of 44 from Taylor spared the Northants run-rate and made the margin of victory closer than it might otherwise have been, it remained a job convincingly done for the visitors.

Worcestershire WIN by fifteen runs

The Verdict: After last summer's white ball catastrophe, beginning with four consecutive defeats to open the Blast, a revamped line-up and an early win made for welcome viewing. With his franchise and international experience, Michael Bracewell will hopefully prove the long-overdue replacement for Riki Wessels at the top; dropping Pollock down the order to Ross Whiteley's old role already looks a smart move, and trusting the likes of Haynes, Hose and Kash to supply the runs that an in-form Moeen and Ed Barnard would formerly have made is an equally decent shout. Equally, I suspect there's no shortage of Pears fans who'd urge Mitchell Santner to take his time flying over and cling on to Usama Mir given the choice, as the Pakistani international fresh out of Colwyn Bay was a revelation tonight. All in all, coupled with the Leicestershire comeback and Josh Tongue being called up to the England Test squad, it's not been a bad old week on Planet Worcestershire.