Notts crash out at hands of Worcs, rain

Half-centuries from Tom Fell and Daryl Mitchell helped Worcestershire to a place in the knockout stages of the Royal London Cup after victory over Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.

Fell followed up the unbeaten century he had scored against Lancashire 24 hours earlier with 63 not out, whilst Mitchell, Worcestershire's captain, was undefeated on 61 when the rains came, leaving their side victors by 35 runs on Duckworth-Lewis-Stern. Set to score 285, the Rapids had reached 138 for 1 after 24 overs when the umpires decided that the conditions had become unplayable.

Notts had posted 284 for 8 from their 50 overs, Samit Patel top-scoring with 55 and there were also half-centuries for Dan Christian and Riki Wessels but all three batsmen fell soon after reaching the milestone. Ed Barnard was the pick of the Worcestershire attack, taking 3 for 45, whilst George Rhodes took 2 for 37.

Worcestershire began their chase in murky conditions and lost Tom Kohler-Cadmore in the first over, chopping Luke Wood on to his stumps.

Fell and Mitchell worked the Nottinghamshire bowling around efficiently, always ensuring that they were ahead of the required rate, in an unbroken partnership of 130. Fell's fifty came from 53 balls, whilst his partner's arrived soon afterwards from 62.

Earlier, Michael Lumb, who began the competition with three consecutive hundreds, hit three boundaries in his 19, before being taken by a sharp slip catch from Kohler-Cadmore, from the bowling of Kyle Abbott. Brendan Taylor also got a start before tamely chipping Brett D'Oliveira to mid-on, for 21.

Wessels reached his fifty from 67 deliveries but hit his next delivery into the hands of long-on. Worcestershire were then handicapped when D'Oliveira had to leave the action with a finger injury after parrying a powerful straight drive from Christian. The Australian shared a fourth-wicket stand of 88 with Patel, before both fell during a productive spell for the visitors, which saw three wickets go down for only 11 runs.

Barnard removed Patel for 55, made from 66 balls, with three fours, before dismissing Greg Smith for a first ball duck in the same over. Christian, who has forged a reputation for himself as being a free-scoring, hard-hitting batsman, was fairly cautious in 54 from 57 balls before mishitting the spin of Rhodes out to Abbott in the deep.

Chris Read and Steven Mullaney applied some late lustre to the innings with a stand of 64 in 6.4 overs but in the end it was all irrelevant as Worcestershire took the spoils.

Worcestershire can now contemplate an away quarter-final against one of the South Group qualifiers, whilst Notts miss out completely, despite beginning the competition in record-breaking fashion with two wins and scores over 400.