Libby, Singh and Hinley star in comprehensive Worcestershire win

Worcestershire 260 (Libby 89, Singh 60, Coughlin 3-32) beat Durham 167 (McKinney 80, Hinley 5-56, Taylor 3-14) by 93 runs

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

Captain Jake Libby‘s perfectly paced 89 from 117 balls demonstrated how to mastermind a recovery from a challenging position at 61 for 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 initially 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 in 33.3 overs.

Worcestershire handed a debut to England Under-19 spinner Singh, who has signed on loan from Nottinghamshire for the tournament.

The game was played on the same hybrid pitch as the Vitality Blast matches with Birmingham Bears and Yorkshire plus the Middlesex fixture and there was early swing.

Libby opted to bat but Gareth Roderick departed in the first over when he drove Bas de Leede into the hands of point. Ed Pollock mistimed a pull against Paul Coughlin and was caught by Killeen running around to midwicket. Rob Jones was undone by a delivery from Coughlin as he edged to Scott Borthwick at first slip.

Worcestershire limped to 33 for 3 by the end of the powerplay and lost a fourth wicket when Ethan Brookes attempted to pull James Minto and was caught behind down the leg side.

Then Rehaaan Edavalath nicked a delivery which left him from Minto to give keeper Haydon Mustard another scalp.

Libby was content to accumulate in ones and twos while new batter Taylor collected three boundaries – a straight drive and pull off Mitchell Killeen and another to fine leg at de Leede’s expense.

The sixth wicket pair brought up the 100 in the 27th over and added 40 but then Taylor (25) was lbw to a Jonathan Bushnell delivery which jagged back sharply.

Singh showed his capabilities with the bat and smote Colin Ackerman for six over midwicket and then came down the pitch to loft the same bowler straight back down the ground. The left-hander was the dominant partner in a half-century stand with Libby in just 40 balls.

Libby completed a highly responsible 81 ball half-century and Singh reached the same milestone for the first time from the very next delivery – his 35th. It contained one six and five fours and the stand was worth 89 when Singh was caught at mid-on off the returning Coughlin.

The stand was Worcestershire’s highest for the seventh wicket versus Durham in List A cricket, surpassing the 68 by Stephen Moore and Steve Rhodes at New Road 20 years ago.

New batter Hinley made a quickfire 24 in a stand of 48 with Libby before being run out by a direct hit from deep midwicket attempting a second to the non-striker’s end.

Tom Sturgess then suffered the same fate after de Leede had fielded his drive off his own bowling and threw down the wicket at the keeper’s end.

The Durham innings then got off to a dramatic start with the three wickets falling to the second, fifth and sixth balls in the opening over from Taylor.

Lees nibbled at a delivery which moved away and was caught behind, de Leede perished to a head high catch by Jones at second slip and then a superb delivery jagged back and Ackerman inside edged through to keeper Roderick.

It became 16 for 4 when Michael Jones turned Harry Darley to midwicket and set off for a single but was run out by Libby’s direct hit at the non-striker’s end.

McKinney and Scott Borthwick set about effecting a recovery and added 79 in untroubled fashion with the former completing a 57 ball fifty. But the game swung back in Worcestershire’s favour with Hinley’s four-wicket burst.

Borthwick fell to a fine diving catch by Brookes at cover, Bushnell was stumped off a wide and then Hinley bowled Mustard and trapped Coughlin lbw.

McKinney’s fine knock finally ended on 80 when he holed out in the deep off Singh and then Hinley completed his five-for by having Minto caught behind.

One-Day Cup