Tom Taylor picked up three wickets but Worcestershire Rapids went down by five wickets to Birmingham Bears in a Vitality Blast derby at Visit Worcestershire New Road.
The all-rounder made an early breakthrough to help reduce the Bears to 7-3 in reply to Worcestershire’s 155-7 after they had been put into bat.
Taylor returned at the conclusion of the game to also pick up two wickets in two balls, including Birmingham top scorer, Sam Hain, for 76.
He finished with figures of 3-32 from 3.5 overs to put him in good spirits for the Vitality County Championship match with Surrey at New Road starting on Sunday.
But Hain and Jacob Bethell sealed victory for the visitors in between Taylor’s wicket-taking burst with a stand of 148 for the fourth wicket.
Adam Hose led the Rapids against his former club with captain Brett D’Oliveira ruled out with a recurrence of a shoulder problem.
Batter Kashif Ali returned for the home side after taking a break from the game in place of Shoaib Bashir.
Kashif struck Michael Booth for six over deep mid wicket but was dismissed attempting the same shot to the next delivery.
Ed Pollock went on the offensive against George Garton, striking him for a huge six backward of square and two boundaries in an over costing 14 runs.
But Jake Lintott pulled off a superb one handed catch at mid off to dismiss Josh Cobb (13) off Craig Miles.
Pollock (21) then lofted Dan Mousley straight into the hands of mid on in the final over of the powerplay which closed on 51-3.
Roderick swung Bethell over mid wicket for six but then was bowled by a ball of full length from Danny Briggs for 20.
Briggs struck again as Hose (17) departed to an excellent catch low down on the long on boundary at 92-5 and Ethan Brookes fell in the same area off Bethell.
Another attempted big hit, by Nathan Smith, led to his dismissal at long-off – off Lintott.
Some spirited late hitting from Rob Jones (26 not out) and Taylor (21 not out) lifted the final total to 155-7.
Worcestershire needed early wickets and Smith struck twice in two balls in the opening over of the Bears innings.
Ed Barnard attempted to ramp the New Zealander and lobbed an easy catch to keeper Roderick and then a fine delivery bowled Mousley
It became 7 for three when Hayden Walsh held onto a low chance after Bears captain Alex Davies sliced a Taylor delivery to deep cover.
But Hain and Bethell launched a Birmingham recovery with an excellent century partnership which propelled their side to victory.
Worcestershire all-rounder, Tom Taylor, said: “It was a difficult night for the lads. I think that is a fairly good way to put it. We felt like we got ourselves in the game but we were 10-15 runs short on that pitch.
“It was a really good pitch for New Road and we felt that 180 would get us in the game and we were a little bit short of that, but that is what happens when we consistently lose wickets like that.
“Guys took risks to try and take the game on but unfortunately tonight it didn’t quite come off with the bat tonight.
“It is one of those things if you are looking to take the game on and be positive, which is the style we want to play to get those 180s and 190s, guys have to take risks and tonight the chances tended to go to hand.
“We got them 7-3, and it gets us in the game, and New Road with the new ball is the time to put pressure on and take wickets.
“We did that but unfortunately we didn’t quite have the scoreboard pressure to try and follow through and those guys (Hain and Bethell) played brilliantly and took the game away from us.”
