Report: Bears Men v Worcestershire Rapids, Vitality Blast
Warwickshire 224 all out (Malik 99, Taylor 2-28) beat Worcestershire 165 for 7 (Hose 49, Gleeson 2-42) by 59 runs
A scintillating knock of 99 by Zen Malik helped Warwickshire Bears to claim the local bragging rights in their Vitality Men’s Blast meeting with Worcestershire Rapids at Edgbaston.
Malik (99 from 46 balls) was ably supported by Beau Webster (79 from 44 balls) as the Bears posted an intimidating 224 and the visitors, in reply, could only muster 165 for 7, aided by a late flurry from Adam Hose (49 from 35 balls).
Worcestershire made a quick start when Rob Yates flicked Tom Taylor to behind square, where Matthew Waite held the catch, for a two-ball duck. What followed was a clinic in limited overs batting from Malik and Webster, whose 177-run stand is the highest second-wicket partnership in the Bears’ Blast history.
Malik’s innings was inventive but played with maturity, too; he brought out a reverse ramp, but complemented it with a cover drive and, all the while, turned over the strike at a high tempo to maintain pressure on the Rapids attack.
His contribution of 99 (11 fours, 5 sixes) is comfortably the highest of his embryonic T20 career, but he has been made to wait for a maiden century in this format after perishing one shy of a deserved ton when he edged Waite to Brett D’Oliveira, bringing to an end an otherwise near flawless knock.
Webster was destructive and terrific with his timing, but the pendulum of momentum began to swing back Worcestershire’s way once the longstanding partnership was broken.
What followed could not have been foreseen. From a position of dominance, in which Warwickshire had lifted themselves up to 178 for 1 with five overs to spare and must have been eyeing 250, the Bears collapsed to 224 all out, concluding with a remarkable final over in which 14 runs were scored and four wickets fell.
Warwickshire, as Worcestershire had done, made an early breakthrough when Webster castled young Isaac Mohammed with a superbly executed yorker but the runs, as they had done in the first innings, continued to flow.
They came primarily from the bat of Kashif Ali, who top edged Chris Woakes for six and then played a far more convincing stand-and-deliver drive off Webster in the next over.
The Australian all-rounder, shortly after captain Ed Barnard had to depart the field through injury, then took a storming catch from over his shoulder to dismiss Kashif off the bowling of Richard Gleeson (two for 42).
That put the brakes on Worcestershire’s efforts to haul in their substantial target, a cause not aided when Jordan Thompson trapped Gareth Roderick LBW for 17.
Once Usman Tariq had bowled compatriot Sikandar Raza and Dan Mousley had found the edge of D’Oliveira’s bat to reduce the Rapids to 90 for 5, Warwickshire had extracted much of the remaining competitive edge in the match.
Hose, supported by Waite (39 not out from 25 balls), led a late resistance and put on a stand worth 56 runs, but the chase proved too mountainous a task and the Bears eased to a convincing victory.
