Match Details VS Notts Outlaws
Metro Bank One Day Cup Group A: Nottinghamshire Outlaws v Worcestershire Rapids
Venue: The John Fretwell Sporting Complex, Nettleworth
Date: 7th August 2025
Scheduled start time: 11am
Worcestershire head to Nottingham on Thursday, looking to kickstart their 2025 50-over campaign in winning style against Notts Outlaws.
Having cruised through their warm-up fixture earlier this week, Jake Libby’s side will be hoping to carry their positive start into the opening group fixture, with hopes high of bettering last year’s quarter-final finish.
Last Time Out
Worcestershire racked up a seismic 398-5 in their 50-overs, before bowling Herefordshire out for 253 as the Rapids made an ideal start to their 2025 One Day Cup preparations, easing to a 145-run win in the National Counties Showcase match.
Skipper Jake Libby scored a third hundred in three innings, in amongst a top-four who all scored half-centuries on a glorious day for batting at Eastnor CC.
Rehaan Edavalath (52), Isaac Mohammed (51) and Rob Jones (76) all cashed in on a true surface and a lightning outfield, before Dan Lategan and Henry Cullen blitzed the home side’s bowlers in the final stages.
Fateh Singh (4-42) led the way for the visitors, as the hosts batting line-up fell away towards the back end of the chase as the Rapids secured a comfortable win.
Inside The Camp
Captain Jake Libby is in confident mood ahead of the start of the Metro Bank One Day Cup, eager to get underway, with his Worcestershire side in a much-improved place on the eve of the opening fixture of the 2025 campaign.
After being left with a skeleton squad last season, through a combination of injuries and unavailabilities, the Rapids are in a much improved position this time around.
Speaking ahead of the first group match away to Notts Outlaws on Thursday, Libby welcomed this year’s preparation and made clear his excitement at the prospect of having a squad close to full strength to pick from.
“We are spoiled for choice this year after last year!
“Obviously we ended up getting quite a lot of loanees in, Adam (Hose) is away with the Hundred, but it still makes it exciting. I think we’re very strong, but we’ve been strong and competitive in the last couple of years, getting to the quarter finals which will be our aim again – to just go as far as we can within the competition.
“We’ve got great depth as well. I think there’ll be more senior players probably coming into the competition as we start, but certainly we get a nice mix of guys out there.
“It will be key probably rotating the ballers around a little bit, but in a way, we are kind of spoilt sport for choice in that department. So it’s a good problem to have and hopefully that means we can go far in this competition.”
Enjoying a sensational recent run of form, including two centuries in one match against Hampshire in Round 11 of the Rothesay County Championship match at Visit Worcestershire New Road, Libby continued his fine form with another hundred against Herefordshire in Tuesday’s 50-over warm-up fixture.
The skipper for the campaign, says playing at Eastnor Cricket Club gave his side a reality check about the sort of conditions and environments the team will be facing, as the Rapids head to several out grounds across the course of the Metro Bank One Day Cup this season.
“When you come to these grounds, you know, have to assess the conditions, and sometimes the pitch does play a little bit differently to the first class pitches. We have just got to adapt, so I think it was good exposure for us.
“Going forward, I think that’s something we’re going to have to do well, adapt to these pitches every game where there is going to be something different thrown at us. But I think we are showing the capability is there and we can do that.”
With plenty of talk surrounding the make up of the side for the first group game against Nottinghamshire, Libby confirmed there would be rotation amongst the side, particularly the bowling unit, after what has been a testing summer of multi-format cricket up until this point.
“There is going to be a couple of guys resting anyway, there’s a couple of niggles in the squad and that’ll be quite apparent with the team selection.
“A couple of really good senior players probably missing out, which is unfortunate, but probably the right thing to do moving forward.
“With the bowlers, they’ve got through a lot of overs this year, particularly guys who played red ball cricket. So we will get that rotation going, but ultimately, you know, we’ve got good quality throughout, so that’s not a problem at all because they’re still bringing quality players in when they replace them.”
The Opposition
Previous result: Bt Essex by 51-runs (DLS)
Last season: Fourth
One to watch: Ben Slater
With confidence high after a good season with the red ball, the Outlaws will believe that they have enough quality – especially in their batting – to mount a challenge for this year’s title.
The One-Day Cup sees Notts stalwart Paul Franks take on the role of head coach, with Peter Moores joining up with Trent Rockets for The Hundred
Opener Ben Slater is a batter opponents always hope to see the back of early, given his superb record in List A cricket.
His 68 appearances in the format have yielded more than 3,000 runs at a remarkable average of 52.75. A career-best 164 in a win over Surrey at Guildford last year took his List A centuries tally to eight.
Squad vs Notts Outlaws
