A pivotal 71 off 53 balls from Gareth Roderick saw Worcestershire Rapids overcome Derbyshire Falcons by 12-runs, in a thrilling contest that saw the visitors keep their qualification hopes alive in the Vitality T20 Blast.
After coming to the middle with his side in all sorts of peril, Roderick repeated his rescue act from last Sunday, as he notched a career-best score and anchored his side’s innings as they recovered from 10-4 to make 174-6, in an eventually match winning score.
Roderick, was full of praise for the way his teammates bounced back after such a damaging start to the match.
“I think from the position we were in, to finish as the winners was really impressive. I think the way the guys finished the innings there, kind of gave us impetus.
“And then I thought we started exceptionally well with the ball, and we closed out exceptionally well with the ball. So nice to kind of forget in the first three or four overs, I think post that, we were very, very good in pretty much all facets.”
After a challenging period, including a tough night at Headingley last week, Roderick bounced back to form forming a crucial partnership with Kashif Ali last Sunday at Northants, before displaying all of his composure and quality to work his team out of a real hole again on Thursday night.
The wicket-keeper, says he worked his way out of the slight slump during the week, and prepared himself for any scenario in the lead up to the crunch clash at the Co-op County Ground.
“It’s funny, if you are a little bit scrambled with your plans, and the bowler executes really well, like Yorkshire did, you know you’re going to struggle.
“So that was really poor and I’m disappointed, but I put in a bit of work in the week since kind of just finishing the innings. Then I got the call today to go back to three if we lost an early wicket, which was nice.
“It takes a little bit more pressure off you going in, and it kind of kicks off your innings, and then you get going. So yeah, it was good. I think as a group, post four overs, we executed a really high level which is really pleasing.”
A vital partnership of 85 with middle-order star Ethan Brookes (43 off 26) went a long way in deciding the outcome of the match, eventually helping the Rapids secure their first back-to-back wins of the season in the competition.
The second win in succession puts the Rapids up to 20 points and sixth place, four points behind Friday’s opponents and fellow quarter-final chasers, the Bears.
Roderick, says it is now all eyes on Friday’s derby-day clash as the Rapid’s look to build a run into the knock-out phases.
“I mean, we say it all the time that momentum is key. There are a couple of games we wish we could have had back earlier on in the season. I think we didn’t really put our best foot forward.
“But you know, to be going into these last few games with a little chance to qualify. It’s certainly exciting for the club, hopefully we can go on a run.”
