Worcestershire County Cricket Club

Fixtures

Our Sponsors/Partners

Links

Job Vacancies

Roary Royal on Facebook

Royals v Steelbacks

Friends Provident t20
Fri 25th June, 5.30pm start at New Road

Articles & Reports

Match Report
Ben Cox came into the side in the place of Ben Scott who has returned to Middlesex at the end of his loan period for the match at New Road against the Northamptonshire Steelbacks.

Andrew Hall won the toss for Northants who elected to bat first. The Steelbacks made a slow start to their innings mainly due to the opening spell of Jack Shantry who went for just six runs off his first three overs, including one maiden. The home side also picked up the key wicket of Chaminda Vaas early, run out by James Cameron.

Alex Wakely and Niall O’Brien picked up the scoring rate for the visitors with a 2nd wicket stand of 49. Wakely scored 31 off 27 deliveries before becoming the first of three wickets for Moeen Ali caught at long on by Richard Jones. The same combination accounted for O’Brien who scored 34 off 33 deliveries as Moeen Ali finished with career best figures of 3-25 in his four over allocation.

At the end of the innings Elton Chigumbura scored a very useful unbeaten 39* off just 20 balls to allow the Steelbacks to reach a total of 140-5 in their 20 overs. Northants did not reach 100 until the end of the 17th over but Chigumbura helped the visitors to score 40 runs in their last 3 overs to reach a total which some thought could be defendable on a pitch that appeared to lack pace. Jack Shantry finished with very economical figures of 0-13 in his four overs.

However in reply Worcestershire chased down the target with 5.4 overs to spare. Sanath Jayasuriya produced one of the best Twenty / 20 innings ever seen at New Road with an innings that showed all his class as one of the best ever batsmen in limited over cricket. After a relatively slow start to his innings Jayasuriya scored a blistering 87 off just 45 balls in an innings including 10 fours and 5 sixes.

His 50 came in just 28 deliveries as the Northants bowlers were not able to contain him. His partner Phil Jaques also scored an unbeaten 47* off 41 balls in a 1st wicket stand of 138.

Jayasuriya was caught on the penultimate ball of the innings by David Willey off the bowling of Nicky Boje. Jaques hit the winning runs the very next ball as Worcestershire wrapped up a comprehensive win by 9 wickets.

Worcestershire (142-1) beat Northamptonshire (140-5) by 9 wickets with 34 balls to spare.
=============================================================

Alternative articles and match reports on Worcestershire County Cricket Club maybe found on the links below.