D’Oliveira leads from the front as Worcestershire Rapids win
Worcestershire Rapids are celebrating their first win of the season in the Vitality Blast after Tom Taylor’s last over six enabled them to defeat Lancashire Lightning by five wickets at Visit Worcestershire New Road.
Club skipper Brett D’Oliveira’s half-century laid the foundations for the Rapids triumph after they had been set a 170 target on a hybrid pitch.
Lancashire did well to recover from 13-3 thanks to a half-century from captain Steven Croft.
But the Rapids own leader in D’Oliveira steered his side to within 22 runs of victory before Taylor finished the job.
D’Oliveira top scored with 61 off 47 balls, including seven fours, while Matthew Waite made 29 and Adam Hose a brisk 23.
Taylor and Ed Pollock then held their nerve to see Worcestershire home with three balls remaining.
It enabled Worcestershire to bounce back in style after Thursday’s mauling at the hands of Yorkshire at Headingley.
But Lancashire just failed to make it back to back wins after their home victory over Durham.
n England and Durham bowler Brydon Carse has been banned from all cricket for three months for betting violations.
The 28-year-old was given a 16-month sanction – 13 months of which was suspended – following an anti-corruption investigation by the Cricket Regulator.
Carse, who signed an England central contract in October, accepted the charges of placing 303 bets on various cricket matches between 2017 and 2019, though not on games in which he was playing.
