Worcestershire once again named an unchanged side for the Friends Life t20 match against local rivals Warwickshire at Edgbaston.
Daryl Mitchell won the toss for Worcestershire and elected to bowl first. With poor light and weather conditions throughout the match it looked likely that it would be a reduced overs and D/L match at some stage. Jack Shantry bowled very economically in his opening spell with the new ball, and dismissing both openers in the process with figures of 2-12 in three overs.
In the wet conditions the Worcestershire bowlers found life difficult. William Porterfield took advantage of the conditions and a short boundary on one side in an innings of 54 off just 34 deliveries. Shakib Al-Hasan took 2-24 in his three overs and Moeen Ali 1-33 in his four overs as they tried to control the flow of runs. The last two overs went for 36 runs, mainly due to Tim Ambrose hitting an unbeaten 44* off just 23 deliveries to allow the home side to reach a more than respectable score of 184-6 in their 20 over allocation. Ambrose and Chris Woakes (17*) scored an unbeaten 7th wicket partnership of 65.
The start of the Worcestershire reply was delayed by half an hour due to slightly heavier rain but with the extra time allowance when play resumed there was no reduction in overs. It was not easy conditions for both sides with the rain never stopping completely and the light fading fast. Conditions were not helped by a temperamental scoreboard which did not help the batsman keep up with the D/L target. Vikram Solanki got the visitors off to a good start with a quick fire 33 off 17 balls before being bowled by Chris Woakes. The quick start helped Worcestershire keep just ahead of the D/L target by the time the minimum 5 overs had been bowled.
With the dismissal of Solanki the home side began to take control of the match again, helped mainly by a good bowling display by Steffan Piolet who took 3-29 in his four overs. Wickets fell at regular intervals as Worcestershire fell behind the D/L target in the middle of the innings.
Gareth Andrew produced yet another star performance with the bat to turn the game back in Worcestershire's favour. Batting in very poor light conditions he appeared to have no problem in seeing the ball in a perfectly timed innings. From scoring 10 runs in his first 11 deliveries he then bludgeoned a further 55 runs of the next 21 balls. It was a tense finish with wickets falling at the other end. Helpful contributions from Ben Scott (18) and Daryl Mitchell (17) got Worcestershire back into the match.
With five overs to go Worcestershire still required 51 runs to win but with only 3 wickets left. The 16th over was the key over, with 20 runs being taken off Chris Woake's final over. This enabled Worcestershire to go ahead of the D/L target for the first time since the 7th over of the innings.
Keith Barker held his nerve for the 19th over, conceding just 3 runs and picking up a wicket. With one over to go Worcestershire required 4 runs to win, with only one wicket left but luckily with Andrew on strike. Despite the near total darkness Andrew dispatched the first ball of the over into the Eric Hollies stand to win the match for Worcestershire. Andrew finished unbeaten on a career best 65* off just 32 deliveries, with 4 fours and 4 sixes. The result moved Worcestershire to second in the table.
Worcestershire (187-9) beat Warwickshire (184-6) by 1 wicket.
