Worcestershire Royals won their third match of the season in the Clydesdale Bank 40 with a comprehensive 9 wicket victory over the Netherlands at Voorburg.

Worcestershire won the toss and elected to field under grey skies and blustery conditions and the Royals struck immediately as Stephan Myburgh (0) was caught behind off the first ball of the innings by Ben Scott off David Lucas.  Then the players went off the field in the 3rd over, with the score on 9-1, as a sharp shower blew across the ground but 3 minutes later play resumed and Lucas struck again in the 6th over when Michael Swart (3) was caught by Shaaiq Choudhry at mid-off, with the score on 23.

Jack Shantry got the third wicket in the next over when Wes Barresi (1), trying to pull to square-leg, top-edged and Scott ran back to take the catch.  Then two more wickets fell as Gareth Andrew trapped Tom Cooper lbw for 25 and Cameron Borgas (2) chipped a Shantry delivery to Lucas at extra cover to leave the Dutch struggling on 33-5 in the 12th over.  Another sharp shower took the players off for 3 minutes, with the score on 34-5 in the 13th over, and the match was then reduced to 39 overs per side.

Captain Daryl Mitchell took the next two wickets as Tim Gruijters (5) got under a lofted on-drive and Shantry, who moved a long way at mid-on, dived to his right to take a good catch and then, next ball, Mudassar Bukhari (0) top edged to Alexei Kervezee at deep point, with the score on 48-7 after 18 overs.  The Dutch captain Peter Borren was the eighth wicket to fall when he was lbw off Andrew for 12, who, next ball, trapped Tom Heggelman (0) lbw and then the Netherlands were all out for 57 off 23.2 overs as Tim van der Gugten (1) was caught by Moeen Ali at cover off Shantry.

All four Royals bowlers made full use of the conditions as Andrew finished with 3-9 off 7 overs, Shantry 3-26 off 7.2 overs, Mitchell 2-10 off 4 overs and Lucas 2-11 off 5 overs.

Worcestershire needed 58 runs to win and lost their first wicket on 13, in the 5th over, when Ali was caught by Cooper at second slip off van der Gugten for 5 but Vikram Solanki, unbeaten on 39 off 40 balls, with 5 fours, and Phil Hughes (12*) took the Royals to victory in the 14th over, to complete an excellent performance for Worcestershire, as they now look to build on this win against the Gloucestershire Gladiators at New Road on Sunday.

Worcestershire's director of cricket Steve Rhodes spoke to BBC Hereford and Worcester's Trevor Owens after their resounding win against the Netherlands;

To listen to the interview please click here