[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

T20 Blast, North Group

vs Northamptonshire

New Road, Worcester

Worcs innings: Northants won the toss and put the Pears in to bat on another elysian early summer Sunday. In the afternoon heat, Michael Bracewell again reverted to misfiring form, caught at third man for 1 in the opening over, and though the incoming Jack Haynes struck some mighty blows in helping Worcestershire to 60-1 off the powerplay, he too was caught at third man for 26 three balls after its conclusion. It was, alas, the beginning of a subsidence, with the unusually cheap loss of Adam Hose for 3 the first big blow, the departure of Brett D'Oliveira for 38 the next, and the fall of Kashif Ali shortly thereafter a bad punchline. Through the middle overs, the reupholstering job done by Mitchell Santner and Ben Cox was thus somewhat careful by necessity, and though they slipped the leash at the death to push Worcs up towards a par score - Coxy's unbeaten 46 off 29 balls the star contribution - and 178-6 felt a defendable score of the bowlers could keep the brakes on.

Northants innings: And some bowlers did indeed keep the brakes on, but as ever, one bad over here and there can undo the good work of the rest of the attack. When Adam Finch had Chris Lynn caught at mid-on for 9 in the fifth it felt like a major breakthrough, but the 18 then leaked by Bracewell to Ricardo Vasconcelos in the following over allowed Northants right back into the contest. Ominously, the spinners couldn't quite work their magic, despite Santner having David Willey caught at third man for 20, and the apparent unwillingness of the skipper to bowl himself also suggested a few problems. Bracewell eventually redeemed himself by seeing off Vasconcelos at the halfway mark, but from there on, Saif Zaib was the scalp Worcestershire needed to take, and they couldn't quite manage it. Indeed, Zaib and Josh Cobb batted almost effortlessly through the back half, finding the boundary often enough and with minimal risk; they required 34 to win from the final three when Pat Brown at last accounted for Cobb, but a series of dire fielding errors then followed, with Santner losing a catch in the sun (and conceding four in the process) whilst wearing his shades up on his hat, and Coxy calling for a skyer that he never looked in command of, on top of an earlier misfield at fine leg that cost a boundary. The 14 runs Worcs had to defend off the twentieth might yet have been enough, but twice Zaib shuffled outside off to bring the ball into his leg-side hitting arc, and twice Brown failed to adjust his line and follow Zaib's movement; the two resulting sixes leaving the fourth ball to be put away down the ground and seal the defeat.

Worcestershire LOSE by six wickets

The Verdict: A result we were probably due, in the spirit that you can't win 'em all. Occasional batting collapses are an inevitability of the format, and in many ways the middle order excelled to make 178, but the bowling was patchy at best, and while Saif Zaib deserves all the plaudits he gets for a fantastic showing at the crease, had the fielding been of the required standard towards the end of the match, his best efforts might well have been in vain. Still, we go again, and hopefully a fully fit Dolly will be leading the bowling attack again soon, as we can't afford to lose his contribution with the ball.