A dominant performance with bat and ball saw Worcestershire Rapids secure a six-wicket win over Warwickshire Bears on a barmy night of Vitality Blast T20 action at New Road.
A clinical bowling display, spearheaded by Usama Mir’s 3-27 kept the Rapids on the front foot throughout, with Tom Taylor and Matthew Waite claiming two wickets apiece restricted the Bears to just 141.
Brett D’Oliveira led the Worcestershire reply, blitzing 26 alongside partner Isaac, whose 27 ensured the home side went ahead of the required rate early on.
Kashif top-scored with an assertive 36, while controlled knocks from Adam Hose and Sikandar Raza guided the hosts to a first win over the Bears at New Road since 2022.
The biggest evening in the Worcestershire Rapids calendar was greeted by blue skies and soaring temperatures, as a sold-out crowd packed New Road to the rafters.
After winning the toss and electing to bowl first, skipper Brett D’Oliveira named an unchanged eleven from Sunday’s outing, before the Rapids made a dream start against the noisy neighbours.
In his customary role opening the bowling, Tom Taylor wasted no time in hitting his straps, thundering in from the Diglis End and producing a hooping in-swinger that castled Alex Davies with the very first ball of the contest, sending the Rapids into raptures.
With their tails up and smelling blood, the hosts showed a clinical edge to take a second Bears wicket in the fourth over, when a mix-up between Beau Webster and Rob Yates saw Matthew Waite produce a superb bit of fielding to collect the ball and throw the stumps down with Webster stranded at the non-strikers’ end, to see the back of the Australian for nine.
An almost perfect powerplay was topped off for the Rapids when Adam Finch entered the attack and ended Sam Hain’s threatening cameo for 16 courtesy of a safe catch at mid-off by Adam Hose, as the powerplay concluded with the visitors 48-3.
Sikandar Raza and Usama Mir entered the fray for their customary middle-over spells, both starting in economic fashion, before Mir grabbed a fourth for the Rapids when Gareth Roderick took a smart catch standing up after Ed Barnard nicked behind for nine.
75-4 at the halfway stage, the Bears were plagued by some disciplined Worcestershire bowling that offered the away side precious room to breathe, as Mir returned having changed ends to clatter the off-stump of Vansh Jani as the Rapids spinner bowled with excellent control.
Raza continued to hold down an end, while Finch returned in the 12th over to concede just one run, with D’Oliveira rotating his bowlers through the middle overs as the home side continued their squeeze, as the Bears mustered just one boundary between the 11th and 16th over.
With Yates providing the most defiance for the Bears, there were extra jubilant celebrations when Mir (3-27) accounted for his wicket during his final over, with the pressure telling and Ethan Brookes taking a typically acrobatic diving catch at point to reduce the Bears to 109-6.
Tom Taylor returned to finish his fine spell in the 18th over, removing Chris Woakes for four to finish with superb figures of 2-17.
A superb display with the ball was rounded off as Finch pinned Jordan Thompson in the penultimate over, before Waite helped himself to two wickets in the final over as the Bears were bundled out for 141.
At a required run-rate of just over seven, D’Oliveira and Isaac started in a steady fashion, with both batters finding the boundary early on in the piece, with Isaac given a reprieve on 16 when Jordan Thompson failed to hold onto a steepling caught and bowled.
D’Oliveira pressed on, shifting through the gears, belting the ball down the ground for four in the sixth over, but was left in despair the next delivery when the skipper clothed a short ball to midwicket, departing for 26 from just 16 balls.
44-1 at the end of the power play, Kashif joined Isaac to bring up the Rapids fifty in the seventh over with a boundary through third man.
The introduction of spin did halt Isaac’s charge, however, when Usman Tariq dismissed the teenager for a run-a-ball 27 at the start of the eighth over.
Adam Hose and Kashif rotated the strike and made their way to 69-2 at the halfway stage, before the latter dispatched Taz Ali into the stands over midwicket in an over that yielded 12 for the home side.
Targeting the legside and taking a lead role, Kashif hooked Thompson for six midway through the 13th, as the controlled partnership kept the Rapids ahead of the rate throughout, with the hosts passing 100 courtesy of a Hose boundary.
The vice-captain crunched a straight drive for four off Chris Woakes but perished next ball as he could only fire a short ball to Sam Hain, as the Rapids lost a third wicket.
Kashif’s excellent knock saw him make 36, while Raza stroked successive boundaries in the 16th over to edge the Rapids ever closer to a famous victory.
Fittingly, it was former Bear Ethan Brookes who joined Raza in the middle to see the hosts home, sealing a comprehensive six-wicket win with an over to spare.
