Worcestershire Rapids Director of Cricket Steve Rhodes hailed Joe Clarke's maiden NatWest T20 Blast half century and said there was "no shame" in being beaten by Notts Outlaws at New Road today.
Clarke scored an impressive 69 not out from 48 balls as joint North Group leaders Rapids posted 164-5 in their 20 overs.
But former New Road all-rounder Andre Russell and Dan Christian's stand of 64 in six overs was pivotal to the Outlaws four wicket win with seven balls to spare.
Rhodes said: "Joe played well. I was pleased and he picked up his scoring rate towards the end.
"He ended up with a really good strike rate. Hopefully there are many more of those (innings) to come from him.
"It was a crucial partnership between Andre Russell and Dan Christian. Andre, we saw him hit the ball for Barnards Green and then join us and hit the ball just as far!
"We knew what sort of weapon he is – and he is an amazing cricketer. Dan Christian played well and they are a very star studded side.
"It is no shame to get beaten by them. We had our chances to win as well so that is quite encouraging.
"Sometimes when you come up against these sort of sides….they've got pots of dough some of these counties and they can stack their side full of top international players.
"It is not easy all the time for us to come off with the points but we gave it a good shot.
"I still felt our score wasn't a bad score. It would have been nice to have scored another 20 runs, you always say that, but it was that partnership which killed us off."
Rhodes added: "Moeen and Tom (Kohler Cadmore) got us off to a really good start in our innings and that was pleasing and we had a good foundation.
"Notts came back well in the middle period but when you come up against those two overseas players (Russell and Christian), you are desperately hoping they have an off-day – but they had a good day today."
