Shropshire Star

Skipper Libby leads the way for Worcestershire

Worcestershire recovered from a disastrous start with the bat to register their second successive win in the Metro Bank One Day Cup against Durham by 93 runs at Visit Worcestershire New Road.

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Jake Libby

Captain Jake Libby’s perfectly paced 89 from 117 balls demonstrated how to mastermind a recovery from a challenging position at 61-5 in leading Worcestershire to a substantial total.

Worcestershire’s leading One Day Cup scorer for the past two seasons was given superb support by Tom Taylor, then debutant Fateh Singh with his List A best 60, and Tom Hinley.

Durham were then in initial disarray themselves with the bat after Taylor picked up three wickets in the first over of the innings including skipper Alex Lees.

Ben McKinney’s maiden List A half century revived their fortunes but Worcestershire newcomer and former Sussex spinner Hinley then made a major impact in the latter stages of the innings. He picked up five wickets in his first ever bowl in List A cricket as Durham were bowled out for 167 in 33.3 overs.

Warwickshire Bears continued their fine start to the Cup competition by beating Sussex to make it three wins out of three in five days – all away from home.

But they made hard work of this victory, scraping home by one wicket after looking clear favourites, having dismissed Sussex for an under-par 173.

They slumped to 76-5 to put the match in the balance before a stand of 73 in 16 overs between Will Rhodes (60) and Kai Smith (44) put them back on track

And then, with the job almost done once more, they lost three wickets with the score on 149 to set up a nail-biting finale, before last man Oliver Hannon-Dalby edged Jack Carson for two to win the game.

Sussex openers Tom Clark and Tom Haines put on 70 in the first 10-over powerplay. but Sussex lost all 10 wickets for 72 runs in 25 overs.

Michael Booth impressed with the ball for the Bears, picking up 3-16, while Oliver Hannon-Dalby and skipper Ed Barnard both took two wickets.