Alex Gidman praised a “great win from nowhere” after Worcestershire Rapids pulled off a stunning three run success over Durham in the Vitality Blast at the Emirates Riverside.
The Rapids managed to defend a total of 117-7 on a slow wicket despite Durham reaching 79-0 in the 12th over.
Daryl Mitchell and Ed Barnard’s three wickets in six balls opened the door for Wayne Parnell, Dillon Pennington and Pat Brown to turn the screw in the ‘death’ overs as the home side closed on 114-6.
Victory has moved the holders back into second spot – two points ahead of Notts Outlaws, who have a game in hand, and three points clear of fifth placed Durham, who are on level games, in the battle to reach the quarter-finals.
First Team Coach Gidman told BBC Hereford-Worcester’s Trevor Owens: “It was a tough wicket and we did really well to hang in the game for as long as possible, which is a skill of ours, and then finished it off with some quality bowling at the very end.
“It was one of those games where it looked like it was out of our hands and then, from nowhere, we clutched a win, so an amazing result really.
“With pace off the ball from the seamers, it was just very hard to hit through the line of the ball.
“It was just a great win from nowhere. It was a tough wicket, they played really well and we won the crucial part of the game which was those last two or three overs.
“Credit to the lads for hanging in there and getting it to that point because it did look at one stage as if the game was going to be finished in 13-14 overs.
“But we showed great spirit and determination just to keep in the game.
“In the four games we’d won before tonight, in three of them, a top four batsman had got a fifty plus score.
“In most games of T20, you need one guy to get a considerable score and we didn’t quite get that tonight.
“But the fact two or three guys did get started was the difference between a winning score and something that was never going to win.
“It got us up to a score we could just about defend. It was a big game and now we’ve won, it is easy to say ‘it was a big game’ but had we not won it, we were still very much in the competition.
“That was a win none of those guys should forget in a hurry and should give them a huge amount of confidence moving forward.”
