A delighted Rob Jones reflected on a day to remember as his sublime 110 not-out steered Worcestershire to a five-wicket win over Glamorgan as the Rapid’s straightened their grip on a Metro Bank One Day Cup quarter-final birth.
Jones, who came to the crease with his side 78-3, batted with poise and composure under intense pressure, as he and Jake Libby added a record fourth wicket partnership of 172 to put the Rapids on the verge of a thrilling victory.
Even after Libby’s dismissal, Jones batted on, hitting the winning runs in the penultimate over as he finished the game unbeaten on a career-best List A score, which the batter is putting down to a recent good run during practice.
“I really enjoyed that. I just felt like I was in the zone. I’ve had two good training days the last two days and I don’t know if there’s any correlation there that when you play well in the nets or you bat well then you feel confident when you go into a game.
“I remember just walking out and talking about building a partnership with Libs and then trying to rotate the strike as much as we can.
“We put the bad ball away when we did, which is credit to Libs, he batted beautifully and everyone that came in, that was a proper team performance today.”
Despite stealing the spotlight after his sumptuous and ultimately match winning knock, Jones’ individual contribution was complimented in fine style by his captain and Metro Bank run-machine Jake Libby, who’s score of 77 came at exactly the right time for the home side.
Jones was full of praise for the the man who came into the match averaging over 70.
“Libs has been an amazing touch this comp hasn’t he, and he’s just doing what he does.
“Whenever we felt like we needed a boundary, one of us hit one, which was nice, and obviously rotated through the strike as well. So it worked out really well.
“I tried to score a run a ball roughly the whole way through and just leave it to the back end. But I think we dove tailed really well there, which was good.”
The emphatic run chase of 297 once again highlighted the prowess and form of the Worcestershire batting group, who this competition have hit their straps.
In a group stage where each game has seen a different individual step-up when the pressure is on, Jones emphasised the significance of the squad effort that has seen the Rapids collect four wins from their six group games and put themselves in a healthy position to qualify for the quarter-finals.
“We’ve had a proper squad this comp haven’t we. There’s not been many missing and there’s been a lot of people fit, so there’s been a lot of competition for places, which I think is really healthy. It drives people to get better.
“Everyone’s pushing for places, so you’ve just got to keep trying to contribute to the team and take your opportunity when you can.
“The fans here at New Road really get behind us. I can’t fault them, like they’ve been outstanding this comp, and it’s been pretty much near enough full houses, but they’ve made a great atmosphere and they’ve been right behind us.
