[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

One-Day Cup, North Group

vs Derbyshire

The County Ground, Derby

Derby innings: Derbyshire won the toss and elected to bat on a cloudy Mayday. The first over brought a dream start as Pat Brown dismissed Billy Godleman, leading run-scorer in the entire competition, with just the fifth delivery after Callum Ferguson had juggled the edged ball at least four times at first slip. However, on a flat track there was no further joy for above thirty overs as the bowlers toiled against a mammoth partnership between Luis Reece and Wayne Madsen that took the home side to 223-1. With a 400+ score looking likely, it was Ross Whiteley who enticed Madsen to edge behind for 113, making the crucial breakthrough, and from there the wickets fell regularly as the Derbyshire innings lost some momentum. The prize scalp of Reece went to Wayne Parnell after the opener chipped an easy catch to mid-on, and only Alex Hughes made a significant contribution at the death as the home side stumbled to 351-9: a formidable score, but short of what they might have achieved.

Worcs innings: There was little in the pitch to trouble the Pears openers, who helped themselves to 152 for the first wicket; Tom Fell the man to go, bowled through the gate by Alex Hughes. However, all the fireworks came from Riki Wessels, who - after a slightly uneven start to life at New Road - brought up his maiden century in Worcestershire colours with a devastating display of power-hitting. Cheerfully marmalising one bowler after another, his 130 was made with no less then eleven sixes and ten fours, and it was only one inevitable misjudgement that saw him caught at widish long-on from the bowling of Matt Critchley. At 186-2 after twenty-two overs, the Pears had effectively broken the back of the chase, but Critchley led the way in putting the brakes on the scoring, chipping away with a few wickets at crucial times, and it was down to Callum Ferguson to steady the ship. The South Australian played in stark contrast to the explosive Wessels, building his innings patiently without a single boundary for thirty-four balls, grabbing the ones and twos and earning the right to accelerate at the back end. His third century in just eight List A games for Worcs came when he pulled Wayne Madsen for four with a couple of overs remaining, and there was enough support at the other end to ensure the Pears crossed the line with minimal fuss.

Worcestershire WIN by four wickets

The Verdict: The highest-scoring one-day game ever played at Derby, with over 700 runs, and it's just a shame that a miraculous Notts win at Wantage Road denied Worcestershire top spot this year. However, it's the fourth season in a row that the Pears have made the knockout stage of the One-Day Cup, and with the competition set to be stripped of senior status from next year, every game now could well be the last. Tactics in the field betrayed, not for the first time, a lack of ideas in how to break a flourishing partnership, but it was an improved batting performance with centurions Wessels and Ferguson joining Glenn Turner (1972), Tom Moody (1991 and 1997), Graeme Hick (1995), Vikram Solanki (1998) and Phil Weston (2001) in making one-day tons versus Derbyshire. Hopefully this momentum will see us well into Friday's home quarter-final.