Outlaws flatten poor Pears

Last year's runners up gain revenge against defending champions

Last updated: 15th July 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Outlaws flatten poor Pears

Pattinson celebrates an early wicket at New Road

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NatWest Pro40 - Division One
New Road
Worcestershire Royals 184-9 (S M Davies 74) v Nottinghamshire Outlaws 188-4 (B M Shafayat 67 no, A C Voges 64 no)
Nottinghamshire beat Worcestershire by 6 wkts

Worcestershire's defence of the Division One NatWest Pro40 title got off to the worst possible start as they suffered a six-wicket defeat at the hands of Nottinghamshire.

Steve Davies struck 74 for the Pears but their total of 184-9 never looked like being enough in the opening match of the competition in 2008.

The Outlaws, runners up to their opponents last year, struggled early on before Bilal Shafayat (67) and Adam Voges (64) saw them home.

Their stand of 128 helped steady the ship after Kabir Ali, who conceded just 14 runs in his eight overs, had struck twice to make the visitors' task a little harder under floodlights.

Opener Graeme Swann hit a quick-fire 28 off 25 balls but when he and Samit Patel fell quickly, it was left to Australian Voges to anchor the innings.

Shafayat played his part in the fifth-wicket partnership that saw Notts get over the finishing line with 22 balls to spare.

Early wickets

After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, Worcestershire never managed to recover from a poor start that saw them lose three early wickets.

Skipper Vikram Solanki was trapped lbw with only seven runs on the board by Andre Adams and Darren Pattinson followed that up by getting Stephen Moore caught by Swann in the slips for a duck.

The seamer then furthered his claims for a place in England's one-day squad when he dismissed Ben Smith lbw to leave the home side 40-3 inside the first nine overs.

Davies remained defiant while his partners came and went before finally finding a reliable ally in the evergreen Graeme Hick, the pair putting on a 76-run stand for the fourth wicket.

It was the combination of Swann's off-spin and some smart glovework by Notts skipper Chris Read that ended the partnership via a stumping and started a middle-order collapse.

Daryl Mitchell and Moeen Ali both then fell in quick succession to off-spinner Patel, who also bowled Gareth Batty to finish with 3-33.

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