Worcestershire Rapids ace Ethan Brookes stole the show on Thursday night, as his stellar performances with both the bat and ball rocketed the Rapids to a 45-run win over Notts Outlaws.
Brookes exhibited some of the most destructive ball-striking Visit Worcestershire New Road has seen for some time, as he took the Outlaws bowlers apart in a 57-run assault that came from just 20 balls.
Hitting five-fours and five-sixes during the process, Brookes said it was nice for his work during training to pay off, as he maintained a strike-rate of 285 in the middle.
“We were going to bowl first just to get the most out of conditions, but a great power play from the guys makes it a lot easier for us at the back end to go and do what we do and try and clear the ropes.
“It’s very pleasing. It’s something we practice but doesn’t always come off. I know it is cliche, but it was nice to come off.
“That’s just what we spoke about as a team upstairs before the game, that we needed a good performance that puts us in the in the hunt.
“You never know, a few performances around the grounds and we might sneak in somehow.”
Brookes, fresh off his third fifty of the Vitality Blast campaign, then produced a typically frugal spell of bowling, that saw him take a wicket with the first ball of his spell and finish with figures of 3-30 from his four-overs.
In the process of bowling out the Outlaws, nine-wickets fell to catches, as the Rapids produced their best fielding display of the tournament to help squeeze Notts from the outset.
The all-rounder said the side had been working on that facet of the game, with Thursday’s improvement crucial in the end result.
“We’ve addressed that in previous games. We might not have fielded as well as we could have done, but today was definitely a lot better.
“I think we took all our chances, not really any sloppiness in the field. So that was a really pleasing thing,
“We started off slowly in the season, in this competition but I’m pleased with how I’ve gone in the last half of the campaign. If I can continue that over the next three years I’m here, that’d be brilliant.”
The Rapids now face a nervous wait to see how Friday evening’s results play out, that will determine whether or not they will qualify for the quarter-final stages of the Vitality T20 Blast, with all eyes on results at Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.
