[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

One-Day Cup, Group A

vs Middlesex

New Road, Worcester

Worcs innings: Middlesex won the toss and put the Pears in to bat on a cloudy Wednesday with play delayed by an unexpected shower of rain, knocking two overs off each innings before a ball was bowled. But Worcestershire, winless against the Londoners in List A cricket since a forty-over Sunday League encounter in May 2012, made up for lost time as the opening partnership battered the boundary on all sides of the ground, motoring to a new highest one-day first-wicket stand for the county of 259 with centuries apiece of Ed Pollock and Gareth Roderick, who finally became the first casualty after thirty-five overs when he was bowled for 115. Polly stuck it out for a career-best 180 before being caught, and Ethan Brookes managed a cameo of just 10, but a run-a-ball 44 from Rob Jones was enough to lift the Pears to a formidable 371-3.

Middlesex innings: While the batting heroics had all been done by Pears stalwarts, for the reply the ball was tossed to a mixture of club youngsters and minor counties loanees or triallists, with no fewer than six debutants to the full List A format. But those who've been paying attention for the last twelve months already knew what Harry Darley is capable of, and he wasted no time in demonstrating it as Sam Robson fell for a golden duck to the third ball of the innings and Joe Cracknell two overs later, both men bowled by identical deliveries that pitched outside off and nipped back wickedly to clatter the stumps. Darley then saw off Nathan Fernandes with a steepling top-edge caught by the keeper, leaving the visitors 41-3 and relying heavily on an all-out assault from Mark Stoneman to keep the match alive, but Jack Home - who made his senior debut in the T20 Blast - put paid to that slender hint of a recovery with three quick wickets of his own, having both Stoneman and Jack Davies caught behind before Martin Andersson holed out on the boundary. Ethan Brookes dismissed Ben Cullen for 8 after a brief lull, but it fell to Cornishman Tommy Sturgess, currently playing for Berkshire, to cap a tidy showing by mopping up the three wickets of the tail and skittle Middlesex for 188.

Worcestershire WIN by one hundred and eighty-three runs

The Verdict: An absolute shellacking of one of our lesser-encountered bêtes noire to get a new campaign underway, though the happy result would, within a day or two, be overshadowed by the announcement of Joe Leach's retirement from the game. Perhaps it's for the best that Messrs Darley, Home and Sturgess have this opportunity, because there are going to be some big shoes to fill at New Road in the summers to come.