[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

One-Day Cup, Semi-Final

vs Kent

New Road, Worcester

Worcs innings: The Pears won the toss and elected to bat on a grey, humid day at New Road, and it didn't take long for the problems to begin. With the Kent bowlers dishing up some disciplined stuff full of pace and variation, the Worcestershire top order had one of their now-characteristic wobbles, and within fourteen overs the home side were 48-4. At that point it seemed for all the world as though Worcestershire were intent on bowing out of another semi-final with no more than a whimper, but a record fifth-wicket partnership in Pears List A cricket for Dolly and Ben Cox helped to propel us up to a respectable score. As Coxy completed his century - making the largest ever one-day score by a Worcestershire wicketkeeper in the process - the Pears broke the 300 mark to set a total approaching par after the worst of starts.

Kent innings: And it felt as though the momentum would remain with Worcestershire as young Dillon Pennington, in only his second senior appearance for the county, wreaked havoc with the new ball and dismissed both Daniel Bell-Drummond and Joe Denly. When Dolly removed Sean Dickson soon after, things couldn't have looked better, but Kent immediately set about a rebuilding job on a par with Worcestershire's. Though the Pears bowled with typical economy, the rising run-rate didn't provoke any rash moves from the visitors, and when a simple caught-and-bowled chance from Heino Kuhn was put down by Daryl Mitchell halfway through the innings, it felt like a telling moment. Kuhn went on to make his century, and his last act in the final over was to bring the equation down to a run a ball with an enormous six down the ground off Pat Brown, who responded with a terrific knuckle-ball the very next delivery to at last dismiss the South African. With four more needed from three balls, it would have been a fairytale ending to see the teenager close out the game, but sadly Harry Podmore played a simple chip over the infield to take Kent home with two deliveries to spare.

Worcestershire LOSE by two wickets

The Verdict: A belter of a game which could have gone either way, and which Worcestershire will naturally be gutted to have lost. The early collapse notwithstanding, this was easily the best all-round performance I've seen this season from an understrength Pears side, and even without the experienced strike bowler we've been crying out for all campaign to break stubborn partnerships and see us home at the death, our teenage seamers Brown and Pennington came within a whisker of fully rewarding the faith placed in them by the county. As it is, we can only rue the chances that went begging - Mitch dropping Kuhn on 50; Charlie Morris taking a worldy of a one-hander which he had to throw away as momentum took him over the boundary; George Rhodes letting a dolly fly right through his hands for six - and hope that the young guns will take pride in their efforts, learn from their mistakes, and come out again with a point to prove in the T20 Blast next month.

In the meantime, it's back to Championship action for Worcestershire. With Josh Tongue injured until August and Joe Leach out for the rest of 2018, relegation is now all but a certainty, so the likes of Pennington and Brown will look to get some crucial red-ball experience under their belts against Lancashire this week.