Nathan Smith fifty leads Rapids recovery to beat Outlaws

Worcestershire Rapids 154 for 8 (Smith 51*, Hose 36) beat Notts Outlaws 134 for 7 (Young 25, Taylor 2-23) by 20 runs

Notts Outlaws suffered their third defeat in three North Group matches as Worcestershire Rapids repeated their 2023 Vitality Blast victory at Trent Bridge to make it two wins from three.

The Rapids recovered from 58 for 6 to finish on 154 for 8 after New Zealand seamer Nathan Smith hit a career-best 51 not out from 35 balls, sharing an 82-run seventh-wicket stand with stand-in skipper Adam Hose, who hit 36 from 37 after being dropped on nought.

Kiwi left-armer Ben Lister (2 for 20) and leg spinner Calvin Harrison (1 for 14) were the pick of the Outlaws bowlers.

With their biggest batting hopes back in the hut inside the powerplay, Notts were never really in contention in the face of some disciplined bowling and sharp fielding from the Rapids, Will Young top scoring with a modest 25. Seamer Tom Taylor took 2 for 23.

After Joe Clarke remained still to win a toss as the Outlaws captain in this format, Hose opted to bat but after a flying start to a powerplay made up of six overs of pace, the visitors stuttered to 42 for 3 in the absence of the injured Brett D’Oliveira.

The first two overs yielded 25 but then Olly Stone removed both openers in the space of four balls, Matthew Waite top-edging to short fine leg, Ed Pollock losing his middle stump to a peach. Dillon Pennington missed out when Hose was dropped behind the stumps but had Josh Cobb caught on the leg-side rope.

Three wickets lost in as many overs then plunged the Rapids into serious trouble. Ethan Brookes risked a second run on a misfield and paid the price, Rob Jones, on his Rapids Blast debut, hoicked Lister to fine leg for 1 and Harrison bowled Taylor to leave Rapids six down in the ninth.

Yet Hose and Smith batted smartly, the latter passing his previous best of 38 when he hammered Lister over long-on for his second six, and were not parted until Lister bowled the former with a slower ball in the 18th. Lyndon James picked up the wicket of Hayden Walsh in the last over but the Rapids had something to defend.

And that defence started superbly as danger men Clarke and Hales were out in single figures, the former chipping tamely back to the bowler before Hales found Brookes on the square-leg boundary, When Haynes, one of three former Pears in the Outlaws side, was leg before to Adam Finch, Notts were 29 for 3 from 5.3 overs.

By the halfway point, seven wickets remained intact with 94 still needed but Matt Montgomery and Young, who had added 44 in six overs, were out to consecutive balls, the former hitting straight to extra cover off Taylor, who then fortuitously diverted a James drive to run out Young at the non-striker’s end.

When James holed out to deep midwicket in the 15th, the required rate was up to 13 runs per over. Harrison was a little unlucky to be run out, stumbling as he tried to recover his ground as Tom Moores send him back, after which Moores and Stone flung the bat gamely but were always destined to fall well short.

Vitality Blast