ED Pollock found his form for the Worcestershire Rapids as he guided his team to a five-wicket win over second-placed Notts Outlaws to make it three consecutive victories in the Vitality Blast.
Pollock came to the crease with the hosts in trouble at 80-5 in chase of the Outlaws' 140-8, but his 38 not-out as part of a 60-run partnership with Adam Hose (33) provided the winning runs to put the Rapids joint top of the Blast North Group table.
🗣️ "You can build momentum and set yourself up for a great shot at it"@EdPollock10 talks about finding form at the right time and having the trust in his own game. pic.twitter.com/a5wcLF06jU
— Worcestershire Rapids (@WorcsCCC) June 22, 2023
The Rapids won the toss and elected to bowl, which brought the two quick wickets
Alex Hales was caught off Pennington with the second ball of the match for 0 and he was soon followed back to the pavilion by teammate Lyndon James who was bowled by Santner in the second over.
Joe Clarke and Matt Montgomery steadied the ship to an extent and the pair put on 53 for the third wicket before Clarke was caught looking for a maximum by Brett D'Oliveira off Pat Brown for 19.
Montgomery was looking in good touch and found the boundary five times before he holed out to D'Oliveira off Usama Mir for 39.
Haseeb Hameed and Tom Moores looked to try and build a score but the former was caught by Mir off Santner. Moores hit two big sixes as he tried to rack up the score but at the other end, Shaheen Afridi lasted just one ball before he was caught.
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The Outlaws were struggling and needed runs as the innings but they were not getting much change out of the Rapids bowlers and captain Steven Mullaney was next out as he was caught looking to go big against Brown.
Brown had two in two balls when he removed Calvin Harrison's middle stump for a golden duck.
Moores and Matt Carter tried their best to produce a defendable score but bar a six from Moores, the Rapids bowled effectively to reduce the Outlaws to just 139/8 from their 20 overs.
D'Oliveira scored 21 runs off the second over as the Rapids began their reply in style but the first wicket fell in the third over when Jack Haynes top-edged a delivery from Jake Ball to Afridi for 2.
Santner played patiently for 16 balls before he was caught and bowled by Carter for 13 runs.
D'Oliveira's knock came to an end in the 10th over as he was caught for 36 by Hameed in the deep as the Rapids' captain looked to pull Calvin Harrison to the boundary.
Kashif Ali hit his first delivery for four but only lasted seven balls before being bowled by Mullaney for 7 to leave Rapids 79/4 and when Ben Cox was bowled first ball by Harrison, the game swung in the visitors' favour.
Ed Pollock and Adam Hose were tasked with getting the Rapids back on track and they did so, bringing the run rate down to put them in charge of the game heading into the final four overs.
Pollock and Hose then played their shots and secured the victory with relative ease in the end, with 10 balls to spare.
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