Worcestershire Under-15s went down by 42 runs in their ECB County Cup quarter-final with Nottinghamshire Under-15s at Kidderminster.
The home side, who had qualified as their group winners, looked to be in a strong position after reducing Nottinghamshire to 94-8 at one stage.
But they recovered to total 167-8 in their 50 overs and then bowled out Worcestershire for 125 in 42.4 overs.
Nottinghamshire were quickly reduced to 13-3 thanks to one wicket apiece for Henry Marshall and Peter Clark plus a run out.
Then a three wicket burst in quick succession from Aaron Tomson maintained Worcestershire’s supremacy.
Number 10 batsman Raheem Ahmed came to Nottinghamshire’s rescue with an unbeaten 50 off 42 balls and added an unbroken 73 with George Blatherwick (23 not ut).
Tomson finished with the excellent figures of 9-0-27-3 and there were accurate spells from Marshall, Clark and Charlie Greening.
Worcestershire also lost early wickets and found themselves 9-2 before Dan Meredith – 31 off 68 balls – and Luke Talacz – 28 off 46 deliveries – added 55 for the third wicket.
But after their stand had been broken, wickets fell at regular intervals.
Worcestershire Under-15s played some fine cricket to reach the knockout stages, winning six of their eight group games.
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Nottinghamshire Under 15s
Sebastian Menzhausen run out (Alex Hinkley) 4
Alex Winiarski b Henry Marshall 6
Joey Evison lbw b Peter Clark 1
Thomas Booth† lbw b Charlie Greening 2
Freddie King run out (Peter Clark) 19
Henry Butcher ct Arnav Kulkarni b Aaron Tomson 24
William Bircumshaw* ct Dan Meredith b Aaron Tomson 2
Ishraj Jandu ct & b Aaron Tomson 5
George Blatherwick not out 23
Raheem Ahmed not out 50
Extras 10
Total (for 8 wickets) 167
FOW: 11-1 Sebastian Menzhausen (Alex Winiarski-4*); 13-2 Alex Winiarski (Joey Evison-1*); 13-3 Joey Evison (Thomas Booth-0*); 42-4 Freddie King (Thomas Booth-19*); 72-5 Thomas Booth (Henry Butcher-14*); 80-6 William Bircumshaw (Henry Butcher-19*); 85-7 Henry Butcher (Ishraj Jandu-0*); 94-8 Ishraj Jandu (George Blatherwick-3*);
Bowling
Henry Marshall 9-3-26-1
Luke Tulacz 6-3-16-0
Peter Clark 9-1-29-1
Hassan Akram 2-0-5-0
Nicholas Jakobsen 2-0-14-0
Charlie Greening 10-0-34-1
Aaron Tomson 9-0-27-3
Dan Meredith 3-0-13-0
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Worcestershire Under 15s
Daniel Holland lbw b Raheem Ahmed 3
Dan Meredith ct Ishraj Jandu b George Blatherwick 31
Alex Hinkley lbw b Ishraj Jandu 1
Luke Tulacz st Thomas Booth b Zain Latif 28
Aaron Tomson ct Joey Evison b George Blatherwick 19
Edward Bragg* ct & b William Bircumshaw 8
Nicholas Jakobsen st Thomas Booth b Zain Latif 0
Peter Clark ct Thomas Booth b Henry Butcher 13
Hassan Akram ct Freddie King b William Bircumshaw 7
Charlie Greening ct Freddie King b William Bircumshaw 2
Arnav Kulkarni† not out 1
Extras 12
Total (all out) 125
FOW: 6-1 Daniel Holland (Dan Meredith-0*); 9-2 Alex Hinkley (Dan Meredith-2*); 64-3 Luke Tulacz (Dan Meredith-27*); 77-4 Dan Meredith (Aaron Tomson-8*); 94-5 Aaron Tomson (Edward Bragg-3*); 96-6 Nicholas Jakobsen (Edward Bragg-4*); 105-7 Edward Bragg (Peter Clarke-3*); 121-8 Peter Clarke (Hassan Akram-6*); 124-9 Charlie Greening (Hassan Akram-7*); 125-10 Hassan Akram (Arnav Kulkarni-1*);
Bowling
Raheem Ahmed 4-0-13-1
Ishraj Jandu 8-1-28-1
Joey Evison 2-0-12-0
Zain Latif 10-0-34-2
Irfan Marofkhail 2-0-6-0
George Blatherwick 10-2-16-2
William Bircumshaw 5.4-0-11-3
Henry Butcher 1-0-4-1