Steve Rhodes admitted he had witnessed "a crazy game of cricket" after Worcestershire Rapids were edged out by 21 runs in a low-scoring Royal London One-Day Cup clash with Northants Steelbacks at New Road.
Northants were 0-3 after a Joe Leach hat-trick, then 19-6 – and a low flying swan temporarily halted play – before partially recovering to 126 all out with the aid of a couple of dropped chances and then the Rapids were dismissed for 105.
Director of Cricket Rhodes said: "A crazy game of cricket. I've seen loads of cricket but that one has really confused me.
"I've seen everything today, a hat-trick from the first three balls which was amazing, 19-6, a little bit of a counter-attack from the last four Northants wickets and then not being able to get there.
"You add to that almost a dying swan disappearing around the outfield and I've seen everything today.
"You've also got to give credit to the Northants bowlers. They bowled very, very well. We fancied ourselves with that chase. We'd have liked to have chased a few less.
"But they got a bit of momentum, we nicked off a few and then we tried to counter (attack) and sadly for us we were second best again.
"There was some class bowling by both sides and sadly for us we didn't bat so well and also some of their batters threw away some wickets as well.
"I suppose Kleinveldt's 30 was quite crucial in the scheme of things because it changed momentum a little bit.
"Also catches win matches and nearly every person in the world knows that motto and it is dead true."
The Rapids have four remaining group matches and Rhodes added: "Like I always say, we go out every single game to win and we'll be trying to win every single remaining game in our group."
