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The One-Day Cup campaign resumes tomorrow with Worcestershire hopping over to the familiar surroundings of Grace Road again. Hosts Leicestershire have had the worst possible start to the white-ball season with two defeats in two, and a third defeat on the trot would all but finish off their chances in the competition. It's been a tale of batting woe for the Foxes this week, with Tom Taylor the only man to make a half-century for them, and too many of the top-order players falling cheaply. Key men Cosgrove and Ackermann have made a grand total of just 64 and 28 runs respectively across the two games, while skipper Paul Horton has fared no better with 37, and even ex-Lancashire recruit Arron Lilley has only contributed a paltry 32. Bat first and pile the scoreboard pressure on, and there's every chance that the home side may crumble.

That said, this is the first time the Foxes have enjoyed home advantage so far, which may aid them in delivering an improved performance. Tom Taylor leads the side in wickets taken - albeit with just three - while Dieter Klein, introduced against Durham, delivered two, as well as a handy innings of 46 with the bat. Aadil Ali was dropped to make room for the South African, but it will be interesting to see whether they can find a place for him again as he came just short of making a century against the Pears in the corresponding fixture two years ago.

For Worcestershire there's no real reason to change a side that's won two on the bounce, especially with the first one-dayer being such a comprehensive victory. The news that Dillon Pennington has suffered an ankle ligament injury that will keep him out for two months narrows the available options anyway, and it'll no doubt be a disappointment to the youngster that he won't be appearing in this year's competition, having made his debut in last year's cup. But as long as Wessels and Rutherford can make the runs, this should be an enjoyable encounter.

Probable Worcestershire XI: Wessels, Rutherford, Fell, Mitchell, D'Oliveira, Cox, Whiteley, Barnard, Parnell, Tongue, Morris

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One-Day Cup, North Group

vs Leicestershire

Grace Road, Leicester

Leics innings: The Foxes won the toss and elected to bat on one of the hottest Easter Sundays on record. It was a dream start for the Pears in the first over, when both Paul Horton and Mark Cosgrove fell victim to the swinging new ball in the space of three deliveries from Charlie Morris; sadly, that was as good as the day got. From there on Leicestershire first steadied the ship, and then raced away with Harry Dearden contributing 91, Lewis Hill 118, and Colin Ackermann a thumping unbeaten 152. With such a flat track it was always going to be a long, thankless slog in the field, and some of the half-dozen chances that came and went for the Pears were tricky asks, but the wheels really came off at the death with too much short stuff from the bowlers, misfields in the deep and sitters going down. Leicestershire closed on 377-4, one run more than they scored in the corresponding fixture last year, and so for the second season on the trot, Worcs set about a near-impossible chase.

Worcs innings: Asking lightning to strike twice was always unlikely, and the game was very nearly done within six overs as the Pears were reduced to 24-4. Thankfully, as the ball lost its swing batting became easier, and a major recovery led by Dolly and Ross Whiteley - the latter en route to his maiden List A century - not only salvaged some pride, but also kept Worcs in with a shout of snatching the win. The Pears kept up with the run-rate, and one or two extra wickets in hand would probably have allowed them to cruise home, but sadly a few too many silly shots pulled the rug out from under our feet, and the visitors were finally bowled out for 339.

Worcestershire LOSE by thirty-eight runs

The Verdict: A brave effort from the middle order, with a couple of personal bests from the likes of Whiteley and Barnard, but it just wasn't Worcestershire's day. No choice but to move on and show an improvement in Wednesday's fixture against Durham: the first home match of 2019.

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The first home fixture of 2019 brings Durham to New Road, looking to maintain their 100% record in the competition so far. Whatever their troubles in the red-ball game, in white-ball cricket the men from the north-east remain a potent force, and Worcestershire will have to put in a much better performance than their showing at Grace Road on Sunday.

The corresponding fixture last season saw the Pears snatch defeat from the jaws of victory after bowling Durham out cheaply, with Duckworth-Lewis going against Worcs after they threw away early wickets and the rain came. Duckworth-Lewis may also have a bearing on this year's encounter, with the forecast questionable, and Michael Richardson and Scott Steel are the prize scalps to claim in the Durham batting line-up. With the ball, Matthew Potts leads the way with seven wickets, backed up by Matthew Salisbury and Brydon Carse on four apiece. Meanwhile, Worcestershire may finally look to change things up after Sunday's defeat, with the possibility of Pat Brown coming in. Not easy to decide who should make way, but Wayne Parnell proved expensive at the weekend, and was guilty of giving his wicket away cheaply in a run-chase where a cool head was needed.

It's dry (if overcast) in the Midlands so far this morning: here's hoping we can get a game.

Probable Worcestershire XI: Wessels, Rutherford, Fell, Mitchell, D'Oliveira, Cox, Whiteley, Barnard, Tongue, Brown, Morris

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One-Day Cup, North Group

vs Durham

New Road, Worcester

Durham innings: The Pears won the toss and put Durham in to bat on a grey, louring day in which the weather was almost certain to have a say. After a bright start for the visitors, Charlie Morris deceived Scott Steel with a delivery that nipped back in, bowling the opener for 14 as he attempted a drive. Graham Clark soon joined him back in the pavilion after pulling a short ball from Josh Tongue straight to deep square leg, bringing antipodean sanding-merchant Cameron Bancroft to the crease with two unbeaten centuries to his name in the first two games. However, ten overs later the Aussie was dismissed for the first time in the competition by Daryl Mitchell after a mistimed drive was held at short third man, and with Durham 78-3, suddenly Worcestershire had a good grip on the game. Alex Lees brought up a half-century for the visitors as they looked to steady the ship and rebuild, but as storm clouds gathered over New Road it looked increasingly like Durham weren't scoring at a quick enough rate to set a serious total in a rain-affected match, and when Dolly tempted Gareth Harte to take a stride down the pitch and be promptly stumped by Ben Cox, it did their Duckworth-Lewis calculation no good whatsoever. They managed just two more runs to take the tally to 114-4 off twenty-seven overs before the heavens opened at one o'clock and the covers came on.

Worcs innings: The covers came on, and the covers stayed on for over four hours. When at last the players emerged a little after five o'clock, it was to chase a Duckworth-Lewis amended total of 152 in twenty-four overs; a fairly straightforward ask in the circumstances, and one that Riki Wessels and Hamish Rutherford looked like making short work of for the first half-hour. But there's seldom such a thing as a simple run-chase for the Pears, and when Rutherford edged behind for 33, having already struck two towering sixes in an aggressive innings, it gave Durham the opening they needed. In the space of four overs, Worcs lost four wickets for ten runs, collapsing from 71-1 to 81-5 to give the visitors the ascendancy, and it required a patient partnership from Ben Cox and Ross Whiteley to drag things back in our favour. Whiteley eventually edged behind for a run-a-ball 26, bringing Ed Barnard to the crease, but thankfully there was no further drama as the seventh-wicket pair shepherded Worcestershire home with ten balls to spare.

Worcestershire WIN by four wickets (D/L)

The Verdict: A hard-fought win against an in-form side, and a satisfying one too, after Worcs were denied by Duckworth Lewis in last year's game. Durham will naturally feel hard done by, having come out with the intention of batting a full fifty overs and being denied the chance to accelerate after a slow, steady platform was built, but that's the nature of white-ball cricket in April: you play with one eye on the forecast. It's a point of concern that for the third match in a row, the Pears have managed a batting collapse of some kind, but ultimately strength in depth came to the rescue, and this is precisely the result that was needed after Sunday. Here's hoping we can repeat it at Wantage Road on Friday.

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Games coming thick and fast now as the Pears return to the East Midlands tomorrow, seeking to build on the victory over Durham and really stake a claim on a place in the knockout phase. Opponents Northants, with just one victory from four, are very much entering win-or-bust territory, and will have to deliver an improved performance on home soil to get back into the competition.

It's been a tough time for the hosts in the last couple of years, losing many of the players that made them such a white-ball force to be reckoned with in the middle years of the decade. The key man now is very much overseas signing Jason Holder, with 286 runs from their four games including three half-centuries, and seven wickets at 22.86 with the ball. The only other batsman who comes close to such consistency is Rob Keogh, while the wickets of Ben Sanderson and Blessing Muzarabani - six and five in the competition respectively - have come at considerably greater expense. Opener Josh Cobb seems to have had a particularly torrid time these last couple of weeks, and all too often Northants end up looking to their middle-order to dig them out of a hole.

Their last outing saw them well beaten by Lancashire in a rain-affected game at Old Trafford, having failed to build on their record drubbing of the Bears in the previous game, and with Friday's forecast increasingly iffy as the day progresses, Duckworth-Lewis may well have the final word again. Winning the toss could prove vital for what will likely be another unchanged Pears side.

Probable Worcestershire XI: Wessels, Rutherford, Fell, Mitchell, D'Oliveira, Cox, Whiteley, Barnard, Parnell, Tongue, Morris

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One-Day Cup, North Group

vs Northamptonshire

Wantage Road, Northampton

Worcs innings: Northants won the toss and put the Pears in to bat at a cold, windswept Wantage Road. With tight, stump-to-stump bowling aided by the overhead conditions, the home side soon had Worcestershire right on the back foot. Riki Wessels was the first to go, caught at short extra cover off Ben Sanderson, who also removed Tom Fell as he tried to cut, only to be caught with a low, diving one-handed catch by Richard Levi at second slip. Daryl Mitchell holed out to mid-on off Blessing Muzarabani, and with the Pears 23-3, it all looked very grim. Thank heaven for Hamish Rutherford, on the eve of his 30th birthday - and playing perhaps his last game for the Pears - as he took control of the innings from there. Two half-century partnerships followed, and though the wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, the New Zealander remained at the crease and kept the scoreboard ticking. At 188-8 with ten overs remaining, it looked like Worcs might fold altogether, but Rutherford completed his third century in just five innings by sweeping Rob Keogh to the boundary, and then accelerated in the last couple of overs with the aid of Josh Tongue. When the Kiwi finally departed for 126 on the fourth ball of the 49th over, the Pears were still three short of the 250 milestone, but Charlie Morris came in to help nudge the score up to a respectable (and crucially, defendable) 254-9 off the fifty.

Northants innings: It was a poor start from the Worcestershire attack, who seemed not to heed the example set by their counterparts in the first innings, giving the batsmen too much width and leaking a few early boundaries as a result. It took five overs for Charlie Morris to make the first breakthrough, prising out Richard Levi who attempted a rash shot over mid-off, and he doubled his haul in his next over with Ben Curran caught at the same position. At 41-2, honours were more or less even, and what followed was the cagiest, most cat-and-mouse run-chase I've seen in a long time. Having struggled against spin in their own innings, the Pears wasted no time in bringing Mitch and Dolly into the attack after the powerplay, and for a full twenty overs the pair strangled the run-rate and heaped pressure onto Josh Cobb and Alex Wakely at the crease. It was a question of who would blink first, and after a steady partnership of 75, the out-of-form Cobb finally grew impatient for a half-century that would never come, coming down the wicket to Dolly and finding himself bowled for 44 as a result. Five overs later Mitch got in on the act, first with Wakely caught and bowled for 46; then on the final ball of his spell, Adam Rossington committed the cardinal sin of trying to sweep to the boundary rather than see out the over, and was LBW for 7. And still the game remained in the balance at 144-5 with sixteen remaining. With Rob Keogh and Luke Procter at the crease, Northants needed only to bat out the overs to win; it was Ed Barnard who tempted the dangerous Keogh into a mistimed pull shot that flew comfortably to midwicket, while Wayne Parnell had Ian Holland caught behind the following over after lashing a couple of useful boundaries. At 194-7, Procter was the last recognised batsman, and fast running out of partners as Barnard pinned Nathan Buck LBW and Parnell had Ben Sanderson caught behind. A few handy fours from the lower order had lifted the home side up to 222-9, and Procter did his best to finish the job, but there was an air of inevitability when, with eight balls remaining, Blessing Muzarabani lifted the ball up to short cover to leave Northants 234 all out.

Worcestershire WIN by twenty runs

The Verdict: Far from the most convincing performance - in all honesty, I suspect that if Jason Holder had been in the Northants side, Worcs would have lost this one comfortably - but a win's a win, and the Pears hold their ground in second place. If this is Hamish Rutherford's final innings for the county then it's a fine way to bow out; it's just a shame we can't have him and Callum Ferguson in the same side. A fourth batting collapse in four games is cause for concern, but for now, there's no choice but to hope it'll all click in time for Sunday's derby against the Bears.

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And so to the biggest match of our season so far: the first Bears-Pears derby of 2019 at New Road on Sunday. It's getting on for two years since the Bears last got the better of Worcestershire in any format, and three years since they did it in the One-Day Cup; nor is recent form on their side, as they're winless in the competition so far, and effectively eliminated with just one point on the board. However, that may just take the pressure off them and allow them to produce a better showing tomorrow.

It's surprising to see Warwickshire struggle so much, less than twelve months after last year's all-or-nothing, champions-or-bust derby in the final group game which the Pears only snatched at the death. Lack of runs seems to be a massive problem, with Tim Ambrose their top scorer and the likes of Hain and Sibley having a pitiful competition so far; all in all, not a single Bears batsman has contributed a century to the cause yet. With the ball, Jeetan Patel is leading the wicket stakes with 9, while young Henry Brookes follows with 7; if he's cleared to play, Chris Woakes will obviously be a major threat too.

For Worcestershire, having delivered an exemplary bowling performance at Wantage Road, the team simply needs to settle down and play sensibly with the bat, whether chasing or setting a score. There are too many collapses going on, and if we're going to go all the way this year, we need more of a backbone to the batting order.

The weather's set for light cloud and moderate breezes, with the sun breaking through in the afternoon; perhaps a day for chasing, if we win the toss.

Probable Worcestershire XI: Wessels, Rutherford, Fell, Mitchell, D'Oliveira, Cox, Whiteley, Barnard, Parnell, Tongue, Morris

[themaclad]

Leach playing for Worcs 2nds against Lancs 2nds at Crosby

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Leach playing for Worcs 2nds against Lancs 2nds at Crosby

Picked up a couple of wickets too. Word for the last few weeks has been that he's targeting the next Championship match for a full return.

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One-Day Cup, North Group

vs Nottinghamshire

New Road, Worcester

Notts innings: Notts won the toss and elected to bat on a cloudy morning, it what was undoubtedly the worst decision a visiting side has made in many a moon. At 25-0 there seemed no real danger to the group leaders, but when Joe Clarke fell LBW to a Charlie Morris delivery that nipped back at the end of the fifth over, the subsidence began. Pat Brown, playing his first game of 2019, earned his first wicket of 2019 with List A debutant Lyndon James trapped LBW on the last delivery of the following over, and just two balls later, Jake Libby nicked a Morris outswinger behind to leave the visitors 31-3. Chris Nash and Samit Patel brought nine overs of stability, and it looked like the Pears would repeat Sunday's mistake of allowing a partnership to flourish until Wayne Parnell began the best performance of his Worcs career so far. In the space of one over, the South African tempted Patel to pull to deep square leg with the first ball, bowled Steven Mullaney with the third and Tom Moores with the sixth for an astonishing treble-wicket maiden that reduced Notts to 58-6. New man Paul Coughlin faced only twelve deliveries before pulling his hamstring on a quick single and being stretchered off, exposing the tail; opener Chris Nash, still at the crease, was the last hope for a decent score, but after completing his half-century he promptly pulled Daryl Mitchell to square leg off the very next ball, and the end was nigh. The tail wagged a little to push Notts into three figures, but Parnell completed his first five-fer in Worcs colours when Matt Carter was caught at midwicket and Jake Ball edged behind at the end of thirty-two overs, leaving the visitors 121 all out: just three runs more than their lowest ever List A total against Worcestershire in 1982.

Worcs innings: In a near mirror-image of the Notts innings, the Pears made it to 25-0 before Riki Wessels was adjudged LBW for 18 despite a suspicion of bat involved. From there, the home side seemed to relish making heavy going of the chase on a pitch that really wasn't doing all that much. Callum Ferguson, making the first appearance of the season, was bowled for 13 by a ball that seemed to keep low, but from there on the dismissals grew softer and softer. Daryl Mitchell attempted to lift the ball over the infield quite unnecessarily, and was caught at mid-off for 20, while both Dolly and George Rhodes contrived to get themselves run out before Worcs had even reached three figures. It was Ross Whiteley and Tom Fell - fresh from Sunday's half-century - who limped over the line, completing a much-needed victory in an incredibly peculiar match.

Worcestershire WIN by five wickets

The Verdict: The result was always what mattered in this tough encounter, but a sixth batting collapse in six games is troubling beyond words. Far calmer heads required on Saturday, when Yorkshire visit New Road, but good to see Wayne Parnell joining Graeme Hick and Kabir Ali as one of just three Pears bowlers to grab five-fer against Notts in one-day cricket.