Chewie
BCCI President
25th June 2010
Worcestershire vs Northamptonshire
Twenty Over Cup - Group Match
Worcestershire vs Northamptonshire
Twenty Over Cup - Group Match
Playing XI’s
Worcestershire
1. Vikram Solanki *†
2. Steven Smith
3. Sanath Jayasuriya
4. Alex Kervezee
5. Imran Arif
6. Moeen Ali
7. Jack Manuel
8. Matthew Pardoe
9. David Wheeldon
10. Matthew Mason
11. Chris Russell
Northamptonshire
1. Mal Loye
2. Niall O'Brien†
3. David Sales
4. Andrew Hall*
5. Lou Vincent
6. Nicky Boje
7. Rob White
8. Chaminda Vaas
9. James Middlebrook
10. David Lucas
11. Lee Daggett
I saw no immediate need to change the lineup, despite us losing the last match.
Lost the toss and was put into bat. Hall's opening over was very tight, with only 5 singles coming from it. Both batsman did not want to lose their wicket cheaply, and so played rather cautiously. Solanki was however caught in the deep for 16 off 15. With his wicket, boundaries dried up for a few overs, as Jayasuriya found his feet. Once he found them however, he started hitting balls to the boundary frequently. Boje was smashed around the park, but Lucas managed to bowl an inswinging yorker that Jayasuriya was not able to hit, departing for 22 off 16. Kervezee departed first ball, but Arif was determined to stay around for longer, despite numerous edges. Lucas was especially good at this, with many plays and misses off his bowling as well. Smith was very impressive at the crease, reaching his second half century of the season. He looked extremely comfortable against spin, but Arif perished to Boje. This brought Ali to the crease and he hit four fours in a row to get off the mark. He was providing much needed impetus as we challenged ourselves to reach a good score. Smith joined in the fun, hitting one Middlebrook over for 21 as he finished on his highest T20 score of 85. Ali departed in the last over for 30 off 14, but he had made a valuable contribution to our final score of 171/5.
Loye looked in great touch at the crease, effortlessly hitting fours. O'Brien was significantly less comfortable, and he top edged a pull shot to be out in the fourth over. Arif got Sales out in his first over, but despite this Loye continued onwards unimpeded. He made his way to 39 off only 23 balls, before Arif struck twice in his second over to remove both Hall and Loye. Vincent departed to a good catch in the deep, also to Arif and it looked as if the match was all but over. Someone didn't tell the tail this however, and Middlebrook and Lucas put on a good partnership to bring the rate down to 13 from the last over. This was to be bowled by Arif, who had had much success earlier in the innings. He managed to induce 3 played and misses, until the rate was 12 from 2 balls. These were managed carefully to allow them to only score one run as we won by 10 runs.
It was a good match overall, with good contributions with the bat from most, but special applause must go to Steven Smith. With the ball, Arif was unlucky to miss out on his five wicket haul, but it was an extremely good performance nonetheless, especially as previously he had been picked because of his batting. Despite this win we are still in last place, tied on points with both Derbyshire and Warwickshire. Hopefully we can improve and place ahead of them.

Worcestershire win by 10 runs