[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

T20 Blast, Northern Group

vs Nottinghamshire

Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Worcs innings: The Pears won the toss and elected to bat on an exquisite August night. The start wasn't quite as exquisite, with the first three overs yielding only eleven runs and the wicket of Joe Clarke. However, the new partnership of Moeen Ali and Callum Ferguson meant business, and proceeded to put on a magnificent display of powerful yet cultured T20 cricket, finding the boundary with effortless and risk-free shots. Even when the former perished on 65, the Pears didn't ease up, and Fergie strolled to a century as Worcestershire posted a very handy 206-2.

Notts innings: For the reigning champions, Notts didn't half make a pig's ear of a feasible run-chase. The huge wicket of Alex Hales was the first to fall, claimed by the impressive Wayne Parnell who tempted the England opener into a lazy chip to mid-off; before the powerplay was over, Tom Moores had joined Hales back in the hutch thanks to the efforts of young Pat Brown, demonstrating exactly why he's the competition's leading wicket-taker. From that point on, Notts were always behind par and feeling the pressure. Only Steven Mullaney emerged from the innings with any credit, and his wicket fell to one of the most memorable run-outs of the season, entirely engineered by Ben Cox behind the stumps, who kidded the running Mullaney (with his back to the incoming ball) into believing there was plenty of time to make his ground, keeping his hands at his sides until the very second the ball came in, then snatching it from the air and whipping the bails off in an instant as a startled Mullaney vainly tried to ground his bat. The wheels came off there and then, and it required very little effort to mop up the tail, giving Worcestershire a thumping victory and a clear lead at the top of the group.

Worcestershire WIN by seventy-two runs

The Verdict: Another huge win that may just have booked a place in the quarter-finals for the first time in three years. Callum Ferguson continues to be one of the overseas signings of the season in the white-ball game, while the shrewd addition of Wayne Parnell is also paying dividends in terms of the experience our bowling attack now boasts. But it's the homegrown Pat Brown taking all the plaudits, and rightly so: after bowling the fatal final over in the One-Day Cup semi-final, the youngster has come back into white-ball cricket with guns blazing, and his twenty wickets in nine matches so far should be turning heads. Long may it continue.