[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

One-Day Cup, Northern Group

vs Leicestershire

New Road, Worcester

Leics innings: Leicestershire won the toss and elected to bat on a cloudy morning which soon brightened up. It was obvious from the very start that the pitch was an absolute road, and for the Worcestershire bowling attack the wheels didn't so much come off as they were never on to begin with. The only batsmen to go did so by going aerial one too many times, and in such conditions it was the relatively effective and economical bowling of Ed Barnard, finishing 3-64 off his ten overs, that stood out for the Pears. Nevertheless, the Foxes set a truly daunting total of 376-4 off their fifty overs, and the home side - who've suffered top-order collapses in both of their last two games - knew that to gain victory from here would require not only Worcestershire's biggest-ever List A score against another first-class county, but also the highest successful run-chase in the history of one-day cricket in England.

Worcs innings: Things literally couldn't have looked worse for the Pears a little after three o'clock when Moeen Ali - continuing his awful run of form in all formats and at all levels of cricket - sliced a ball straight to point off a mistimed drive. That brought Australian debutant Callum Ferguson, in for the absent Travis Head, to the crease with the hosts 5-1 in just the second over, and none of the glum stalwarts around New Road could ever have predicted what was to follow. Ably supported by Joe Clarke at the other end, Fergie wasted no time in going after the Foxes attack, hitting Varun Aaron for a trio of boundaries off a single over as a statement of intent. Nor did the boundaries dry up, and the hundred stand for the second wicket came up off just eighty-eight balls. When Clarke finally holed out to Cameron Delport at deep midwicket after trying to thump one over cow corner, it brought Sunday's hero Daryl Mitchell to the crease to provide a half-century off 29 balls while Fergie brought up his own ton at the other end. Records began tumbling on the flat track. The Aussie new boy was already just the third Pears player to score a century on List A debut after his compatriots Phil Jaques in 2006 and the late Phillip Hughes in 2012, but the milestones came thick and fast thereafter as he first surpassed the highest one-day score by a Worcestershire batsman against Leicestershire (beating Graeme Hick's 110 not out at New Road in 1999), and then shattered his own career-best score of 169. Absurdly, by the time we hit the thirty-over mark the game already felt like a foregone conclusion with the home side cruising, and though the run-rate slowed a little when Daryl Mitchell departed in the same fashion as Clarke, Worcestershire had already gained enough breathing space to give Dolly a few overs to get in. At the other end Fergie didn't let up, and with a magnificent boundary down the ground he set a new record List A total for a Worcs batsman, beating the 180* scored by Pears legend Tom Moody against Surrey in the NatWest Trophy at the Oval way back in August 1994. It would have been a fitting conclusion had he stuck around to score the winning runs, but unfortunately the exhausted Australian nicked one behind at the death on 192, bringing Ross Whiteley in to smash the hosts swiftly to parity. With 16 balls to spare, it was Dolly who struck the winning boundary to square leg, and Worcestershire had made a mockery of the record target.

Worcestershire WIN by six wickets

The Verdict: The largest successful run-chase in the history of English one-day cricket. The fifth-largest in the world. The largest score by a Pears batsman in List A, besting Long Tom Moody's 180 that had stood for a quarter of a century. Sometimes you just have to stand back and applaud a great performance and a great game of cricket all round. Worcestershire extend their lead at the top of the group, and but for the agonising defeat at Durham, would almost certainly have qualified by now. As it is, we travel to Trent Bridge on Friday to face the reigning champions, knowing a win would effectively seal the deal. With this debut Callum Ferguson has set himself an impossibly high standard to live up to, but if he turns in even half the same performance at Notts, things will be looking good.