Adam Wiffen came within one run of scoring a T20 century for Worcestershire Seconds after being drafted in as a replacement for the injured Zen Malik against Northamptonshire Seconds in a double header at Wantage Road.
Wiffen was given his first chance at T20 level after Zen Malik suffered a finger injury when bowling for Wolverhampton in a weekend Birmingham League match and was forced to pull out.
He made a reasonable start to his County T20 career by top-scoring with 29 against a powerful Northants line-up who won the opening match by six wickets.
But it was in Game Two that Wiffen excelled as Worcestershire went down by 15 runs, hitting 99 0ff 61 balls with two sixes and 12 fours.
He was run out off the penultimate ball of the innings.
In Game One Worcestershire were restricted to 138-9 against a Northants side of which many will feature in the forthcoming NatWest T20 Blast of which they are the holders.
In addition to Wiffen, Alex Hepburn (27) and Alexei Kervezee (21) were the other Worcestershire players to top 20.
Jack Shantry struck an early blow when accounting for Rob Keogh (7) but Josh Cobb's 52 off 39 deliveries – plus support from Ben Duckett (34) and Alex Wakely (23) – saw Northants home.
In Game Two, Rob Netown top-scored with 56 off 35 balls and he was backed up by Wakely – 41 off 25 deliveries – and Duckett with 40 off 25 in a total of 195-5.
Wiffen came to the wicket at 14-2 and proceeded to score 99 off 61 deliveries with two sixes and 12 fours.
There were also useful knocks from Hepburn, Alex Milton and Ollie Westbury as the Seconds ended just short of their formidable target on 180-6. Ben Sanderson returned 4-31 for Northants.
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GAME ONE
Worcestershire Seconds
Hepburn b Crook 27
Fell b Cobb 12
Kervezee lbw Haddow 21
Wiffen c Newton b Azharullah 29
Milton c Wakely b White 19
Westbury c Duckett b Kleinvedlt 2
Twohig c Kleinveldt b Gleeson 7
Shantry c Duckett b Gleeson 4
Brown not out 2
Morris run out (Azharullah) 3
Extras 12
Total (for 9 wickets) 138 in 20 overs
FOW: 36, 48, 72, 107, 112, 112, 129, 129, 138
Bowling Kleinveldt 3-0-20-1
Gleeson 3-0-15-2
Azharullah 4-0-24-1
Crook 2-0-19-1
Cobb 2-0-8-1
White 4-0-31-1
Haddow 2-0-13-1
—–
Northamptonshire Seconds
Duckett c Fell b Brown 34
Keogh c Milton b Shantry 7
Cobb c Twohig b Brown 52
Wakely c Kervezee b Brown 23
Kleinveldt not out 13
Crook not out 4
Extras 6
Total (for 4 wickets) 139 in 17.2 overs
FOW: 11, 61, 120, 135
Bowling
Shantry 3-0-29-1
Morris 2-0-14-0
Brown 3.2-0-30-3
Twohig 3-0-30-0
Hepburn 3-0-18-0
Wiffen 3-0-18-0
—–
GAME TWO
Northants Seconds
Cobb c Wiffen b Shantry 16
Newton c Brown b Twohig 56
Wakely b Brown 41
Duckett c Twohig b Hepburn 40
Crook not out 15
Keogh run out (Milton) 15
White not out 4
Extras 8
Total (for 5 wickets) 195 in 20 overs
FOW: 27, 92, 142, 173, 191
Bowling
Shantry 4-0-35-1
Morris 1-0-14-0
Brown 4-0-29-1
Wiffen 1-0-10-0
Hepburn 4-0-43-1
Twohig 4-0-42-1
Kervezee 2-0-19-0
—–
Worcestershire Seconds
Fell c King b Sanderson 5
Hepburn c Crook b Sanderson 22
Kervezee c Azharullah b Sanderson 1
Wiffen run out (Crook) 99
Milton lbw Keogh 21
Westbury c King b Sanderson 22
Twohig not out 4
Shantry not out 1
Extras 5
Total (for 6 wickets) 180 in 20 overs
FOW: 12, 14, 31, 110,164, 179
Bowling
Gleeson 3-0-21-0
Sanderson 4-0-31-4
Azharullah 4-0-47-0
Crook 1-0-10-0
Cobb 2-0-13-0
White 4-0-42-0
Keogh 2-0-13-1
