Thakor piles on pain for Worcestershire

Derbyshire 234 for 8 (Thakor 68, Elstone 52, Morris 3-46) beat Worcestershire 181 (Fell 46, Thakor 3-37) by 49 runs (D/L method)
Scorecard

Derbyshire eased the disappointment of missing out on a Royal London Cup quarter-final place with an emphatic victory over Worcestershire who were beaten for a sixth time in Group A.

Shiv Thakor and Scott Elstone scored their first one-day 50's for Derbyshire in the Falcons' 234 for 8 with Charlie Morris returning his best List A figures of 3 for 46.

Worcestershire never came to terms with a slow pitch chasing an adjusted target of 231 in 48 overs.

Only Tom Fell with 46 threatened to loosen Derbyshire's grip on the game but once he became one of two victims for skipper Wes Durston, Worcestershire slumped to 181 to lose by 49 runs under Duckworth/Lewis with Thakor completing a fine all-round display with 3 for 37.

Derbyshire's chances of progressing in the tournament ended the previous day at Durham but they started well with Durston dominating an opening stand of 43 that ended when Billy Godleman had his leg stump knocked out by Charlie Morris in the eighth over.

But when Durston was unluckily run out for 41 after Alex Hepburn touched a drive from Tillakaratne Dilshan onto the stumps, the top order crumbled with Dilshan again falling cheaply.

The Sri Lankan became the 24th player to pass 14,000 runs in List A games but was lbw when he went back to Saeed Ajmal's first ball and ended his disappointing 50 over campaign with 26 runs from three matches.

At 76 for 4, the Falcons were in danger of falling short of a competitive score but Thakor and Elstone played sensibly to rebuild the innings with a stand of 93 from 123 balls.

Elstone reached his 50 from 65 balls before he was deceived by a slower ball from Morris who bowled Alex Hughes off an inside edge in the 43rd over .

Thakor was well caught at mid off on the slide by Richard Oliver for 68 from 98 balls in the penultimate over but Matt Critchley struck the ball cleanly to finish with 22 from 18 balls.

Oliver played on to Mark Footitt before rain left Worcestershire with a revised target and disciplined seam bowling backed up by sharp ground fielding exerted pressure which brought two wickets in five overs.

Tom Kohler-Cadmore edged a big drive at Thakor before Joe Clarke set off for a single to point that was never on and was left stranded to leave the visitors struggling at 51 for 3 in the 17th over.

Fell swung Critchley over wide long on for the first six of the game but Alex Gidman could not get the ball away and sent a leading edge off Hughes to mid off after facing 33 balls for 15.

Ross Whiteley and Fell were both taken at deep square leg with Worcestershire losing 4 for 27 in 49 balls as the visitors ended a disappointing campaign by losing with 24 balls to spare.