Worcestershire Rapids were edged out by one run under the Duckworth Lewis Method in a tense Vitality Blast encounter with Notts Outlaws at Visit Worcestershire New Road.
The game was in the balance throughout Notts innings under leaden skies after Worcestershire had totalled 141-6 in their innings.
But Alex Hales proved to be the difference between the two sides with an unbeaten half century.
He ensured the Outlaws were narrowly ahead of the required rate when the heavens finally opened and the umpires took the players off the field.
It was rough luck on the Rapids who had also been edged out by Northamptonshire and Leicestershire when they could easily have won all three games in the past week.
After losing early wickets Adam Hose (43) played a fine knock and, with support from Nathan Smith (27) and Ed Pollock (26 not out) ensured Notts were sent a challenging target on a two-paced hybrid pitch.
Smith also impressed with the ball and helped keep the Outlaws in check but they just had enough ammunition to edge in front.
Nottinghamshire captain Joe Clarke won the toss and elected to bowl first.
Worcestershire Club captain, Brett D’Oliveira, top edged a catch to third man off Ben Lister and Josh Cobb was lbw working Matt Montgomery to leg.
Matthew Waite pulled Olly Stone to the boundary but then fell on the deep wicket boundary against the same bowler.
Ethan Brookes, the Rapids leading scorer in the Blast, went to cut and was bowled by Calvin Harrison.
The Rapids went on the offensive in the 15th over from Lyndon James which yielded 15 runs with Smith smashing a six over long off.
Hose and Smith added 69 for the fifth wicket with the latter striking maximums off Lyndon James and Calvin Harrison.
Hose also struck Liam Patterson-White for six over long on and again batted very sensibly.
But Harrison broke the stand when Smith perished on the deep mid-wicket boundary.
Hose battled away to make 43 off 35 balls before he holed out to long on in the penultimate over from Ben Lister.
Worcestershire’s new ball attack of Smith and Tom Taylor bowled accurately and the latter made the breakthrough when Joe Clarke (26) lost his middle stump.
Run-scoring was again not a straightforward process on this surface and the increasingly leaden skies meant both sides had one eye on Duckworth Lewis.
Some big hitting from Hales ensured Notts moved ahead of the required rate.
But West Indian spinner, Hayden Walsh, struck in his first over when he bowled Will Young to leave the game again in the balance.
Walsh made it two wickets in two overs as Haynes went for a reverse sweep and was lbw.
But Hales again wrestled the initiative for his side with two enormous pulls over the mid wicket boundary.
Worcestershire batter, Adam Hose, said: “A pretty frustrating one to take. We’ve been on the wrong end of a few results the last couple of weeks that, if we are being completely honest with ourselves, we probably should have won.
“I’m not saying today is one of them but they all add up and in what could have been a really good week has turned into a frustrating one from a team point of view.
“We never quite know what we are going to get with the powerplay, especially with the new ball. We just try and be nice and smart but other teams are allowed to bowl well and we probably didn’t bat as well as we might have wanted to.
“But saying that we managed to put what we thought was a half decent score on the board, maybe 10-15 light, but not to be tonight.
“It was really tight in the end. A few little decisions that didn’t quite go our way and Alex Hales played fairly nicely.
“But we knew if we got early wickets, with him and Joe Clarke, we were well within the game with Notts a little bit low on confidence.
“We tried our best but it wasn’t to be and we’ve just got to dust ourselves down and look ahead to Sunday.”
