| Royal London One-Day Cup, Blackfinch New Road |
| Warwickshire 315-5 (50 overs): Hain 161* |
| Worcestershire 281 (47.2 overs): Parnell 76, Fell 53; Patel 4-37 |
| Warwickshire (2 pts) won by 34 runs |
| Scorecard |
Sam Hain’s brilliant unbeaten 161 set up a tense 34-run One-Day Cup derby victory for Warwickshire over rivals Worcestershire at New Road.
Hain’s knock, the Bears’ second-highest List A score behind the great Alvin Kallicharran’s 206 against Oxfordshire in 1984, took his side to 315-5.
The 23-year-old hit 10 fours and six sixes to steer the visitors from 62-3.
Bears captain Jeetan Patel then took 4-37 as Worcestershire, despite rallying from 145-7, were bowled out for 281.
Wayne Parnell’s swashbuckling 76 off 57 balls gave the Pears a glimmer of hope of an incredible victory, but was last man out when he skied Henry Brookes to Liam Banks.
Earlier Hain was in magnificent touch as he hit his own best List A score and the Bears’ highest against a fellow first-class county to help Warwickshire score exactly 100 runs in the final 10 overs and turn what looked like a competitive total into a match-winning one.
The Bears’ first win in five matches in this year’s competition gives them an outside chance of qualifying from the North Group, while it was a second defeat in five matches for Worcestershire.
Warwickshire now face an away match against Derbyshire on Tuesday while Worcestershire, who drop to fourth in the table, are back in action the following day, at home to 100 per cent North Group leaders Nottinghamshire.
Worcestershire first team coach Alex Gidman:
“The lads will feel they’ve just missed on an opportunity to get another win. But credit to Sam Hain. That really was a genuinely good innings and they managed to wrestle back momentum really well.
“I’m all for learning how we can get better but at the same time you’ve sometimes got to accept that someone or a team has played extremely well and that innings was very good and got them to what, in our opinion, was an over-par score.
“Credit to Jeetan Patel and the way he captained there in a 10 over period. He led their team superbly well. He took a bit of a risk and we didn’t quite have the skill set to get over that and over the line.”
Warwickshire batsman Sam Hain told BBC WM:
“I’ve been a little bit light of runs in the one-day stuff so far. I got a bit of luck early on but I will take it. I tried to put a bit of a performance on for the boys and it was nice from a personal and a team point of view.
“The wicket was a little bit tacky. There was a bit of moisture underneath so I found it hard initially to put pressure back on the bowlers. I made the decision to see it through and then try and catch up at the back end of the innings.
“You know with Worcestershire that they are going to come hard when they bat but it was up to us to hold their skills and hold our nerve. As long as we are learning, that is the main thing and we will take confidence from this.”
