Worcestershire Rapids saw their Vitality T20 Blast campaign ended in underwhelming fashion as the visitors were consigned to a 78-run defeat to see hopes of securing knockout cricket crushed on the final day of group stage action.
Heading into the Sunday knowing only a win would do, the Rapids were outgunned by a an in-form Somerset side who flexed their white ball muscles and leapfrog Worcestershire in the Central and West table.
Having travelled to Taunton full of optimism, Alan Richardson said he was pleased with his side’s efforts to rein the defending champions’ back in after they had got off to a flying start.
“I was pretty pleased that we were in a position to qualify, and then not to get there is very disappointing.
“We looked at it on Friday Somerset were here (at home) and they were 74 off the power play for one.
“So we knew that that would be incredibly tough, but we also knew that if we kept them to what we thought was about a par score, which here looks like late 180s/190, we felt like we had a chance.
“We knew that we would have to play really well, but we felt like it was a good wicket.
“I certainly think Powerplay was tough, but the boys stuck at it and as is typical for the group, stayed very resilient and stuck together and I felt we gave ourselves a fighting chance in those last 14 overs.”
A destructive opening stand between Will Smeed and Thomas Rew put the away side on the back foot, but another middle overs clinic from Usama Mir (2-28) and a strong finish from Matthew Waite (3-39) helped Worcestershire keep the hosts to under 200 at the halfway stage.
Isaac Mohammed and Henry Cullen made a bright start for the Rapids, but their work was undone as the pair were dismissed in successive overs.
With the door half ajar, the home side pounced, taking wickets with frequency to derail the Worcestershire run chase which never recovered from 80-4 at the halfway stage.
Skipper Gareth Roderick top scored for the away side with a determined 39, but Somerset spinners Lewis Goldsworthy and Jack Leach seized control of the contest.
Richardson explained that the decision to leave out finger spinner Fateh Singh was a tough one that the Head Coach will look back on.
“I’ll probably look at every game and I’ve regret to cry if I’m honest.
“I think we were trying to work with what we had, Fateh is incredibly unlucky, but we had a look at what we thought was the best way of going about it.
“Unfortunately, he missed out. He’s obviously made a huge impact in those couple of games that he’s played after the Warwickshire game, which was a real tough game for him at Edgbaston.
“We felt like this was the best way to go about it. It hasn’t worked out that way, whether picking Fateh would have made any difference to the resort I don’t know.
“But certainly, you know, those last couple of games he’s played really well.
“It was a very tough call and probably look back on every game and look at things that we could have done differently.
“So that’s one for us to obviously sit and have a look at.”
