[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

T20 Blast, Quarter-Final

vs Sussex

The County Ground, Hove

Sussex innings: The Pears won the toss and put Sussex in to bat on a sunny if bitterly cold autumn evening.  Fielding a weakened team for this rematch of last year's final, Worcestershire were very much the underdogs from the word go, and that fact was emphasised by openers Luke Wright and Phil Salt dishing out some serious humpty during the powerplay, each surviving a half-chance to take the hosts to 55-0.  Just when it seemed like Worcs were running out of ideas, Daryl Mitchell managed to tempt both batsmen into one big shot too many in consecutive overs, removing Wright for 28 and Salt for 72.  With the door open, Ed Barnard obligingly deceived Alex Carey with a slower ball that the Aussie wicketkeeper skyed for a simple catch, then clattered David Wiese's stumps off the very next ball with a searing, inswinging yorker.  It was Moeen Ali who accounted for Delray Rawlins, holding onto a steepling caught-and-bowled chance, and Charlie Morris who took Chris Jordan by surprise with a bouncer that he feathered through to the keeper.  However, through this collapse Laurie Evans remained at the crease and kept the scoreboard ticking, and in the end he almost single-handedly dragged Sussex up to a competitive 184-6; a total that hadn't been successfully chased down in T20 at Hove since 2010.

Worcs innings: In the first couple of overs it didn't look remotely like the Pears were in danger of threatening that decade-long record, with Joe Leach comprehensively bowled by Reece Topley off the third ball of the innings.  That brought Moeen to the crease, and for a few deliveries he looked anything but fluent or confident, struggling to find the middle of the bat and shortly lofting an uppercut straight into the gloves of Alex Carey behind the stumps.  However, in a turning point that will live long in Carey's nightmares, he shelled the chance, and the reprieved Moeen - at that point on 5 - proceeded to marmalise the Sussex attack for the remainder of the game.  No less than eleven sixes - equalling the club's T20 record set by Ross Whiteley at Headingley in 2015 - came off the skipper's bat as he raced to a fifty-ball ton, while Riki Wessels played a valuable anchor role at the other end.  Their partnership became the biggest for the second wicket in Worcs T20 history, surpassing the 149 scored by Graeme Hick and Ben Smith against Glamorgan in 2005, and then the best for any wicket when it went beyond the 175 of Hick and Solanki against Northants at Chester Road in 2007.  Of course, all good things come to an end, and Wessels did eventually perish as he tried to end the game quickly with a big hit, but Mo remained unbowed and unbeaten (having been dropped twice by Reece Topley), and he fittingly polished off the chase with another towering six to take the Pears to their second Finals Day in as many years.

Worcestershire WIN by eight wickets

The Verdict: You wait fifteen years for a Finals Day, and then two come along at once.  A magnificent achievement by an understrength Worcestershire side who've had a miserable Championship season, and a small ray of hope that we may yet compensate for that red-ball disappointment by successfully defending the T20 title.