worcestershire loan signing luke wood was delighted to help the rapids seal another nail-biting victory in the vitality blast after bowling a tight and impressive final over in the triumph over birmingham bears at New Road.
the nottinghamshire paceman was entrusted with the final over by skipper brett d’oliveira and repaid the faith shown in him.
he conceded only seven runs and bowled full and straight as the rapids edged home by four runs to follow yesterday’s last over win over lancashire lightning at emirates old trafford.
it was a new role for wood but one that he viewed as a “big challenge” and was determined to make the most of in front of a packed and sold out New Road.
wood, who has signed for a 28 day period, said: “it was great to get over the line. at the start it was tough. they’ve got good players all around and you know how far down the batting order they go.
“they had nine wickets down but got it down to 12 off the last over. it was nerve-wracking at times but it was great to get over the line.
“the last over? it was a new thing to me, coming in a different side with a slightly different role to what i’ve had previously.
“i saw it as a big challenge and to get through it at the end was a nice feeling.
“you try and keep things as clear as you can because if you try and over-think and over-complicate things just because of the situation it can become quite difficult.
“if you just keep your head clear and try and execute your plan…if it serves you well in other games, then it is going to serve you well in this game.
“you don’t get it right all the time but it was nice to get it right today.”
wood added: “were we confident of defending our total? some of the lads came off and said it was quite a similar wicket to yesterday at old trafford.
“it was nice to get a good total but at the same time we knew it was chaseable – because obviously we chased it last night.
“i think we kept taking wickets throughout and it was hard to come in and score quickly.
“it probably got closer than we would have liked but the fact we’ve won the game is all that matters really.”
