Steve Rhodes believes the late order hitting of Shaaiq Choudhry and Joe Leach demonstrated what Worcestershire Rapids are capable of with the bat in the Royal London One-Day Cup when they fire on all cylinders after losing to Essex Eagles by eight wickets at New Road.
Choudhry and Leach plundered 93 in 11.2 overs to rescue Worcestershire from 145-7 and reach 238-7 in their 50 overs after being put into bat.
Choudhry hit an unbeaten 44 from 36 balls with seven fours and Leach 45 not out from 34 deliveries with six fours.
But an unbeaten century from opener Mark Pettini enabled Essex to reach their target with 7.4 overs to spare.
Now the Rapids will look to bounce back against Northamptonshire Steelbacks at Milton Keynes on Thursday before entertaining Derbyshire Falcons at New Road on Thursday.
Rapids Director Of Cricket Rhodes said: "We had a bad start with the bat and lost a few wickets. To get to five down, it meant we were going to struggle to get a decent total but the two lads at the end played really well to get us something to bowl at.
"To be perfectly honest the wicket was a big difference. Bowling second, it was a lot slower and certainly early doors at 10.30 it nipped around a little bit.
"It made life awkward because we were probably 50 runs short of what we would have liked for a total on that wicket. It was difficult and sadly it wasn't to be today.
"The two lads played really well but it just shows what can be done. When you've only got four fielders outside the circle towards the end of the innings, they scored 90 odd runs in 11.2 overs at the death which is good going especially when you are seven wickets down.
"It just goes to show the plans that we do have are good. We didn't quite carry them out with the bat today. We lost too many wickets early.
"But if we can get through without losing too many wickets, we will score heavily in that last 10 overs.
"We need to bounce back at Milton Keynes on Tuesday, get a few points on the board and then challenge."
Rhodes added: "We've also got to give credit to the opposition today and I thought they played a good game of cricket. "I thought their chase was excellent and one guy batted through at the top of the order, Pettini, and saw them through.
"We've not had chance to practice (50 over cricket) but we know well enough how to play it. It's just that we've got to execute the plans."
