Brookes stars in thrilling chase as Worcestershire seal One-Day Cup glory

Worcestershire ended a week that saw them relegated in the Rothesay County Championship by winning the Metro Bank One-Day Cup by three wickets in a sensational finish to a rain-affected final at Trent Bridge, despite a brilliant century from Ali Orr for Hampshire.

Chasing a twice-revised target of 188 from 27 overs after Hampshire had made 237 for seven in 45, the Rapids clinched victory with two balls to spare after ninth man Henry Cullen, with four required to win, was caught on the boundary at long leg only for the fielder, Kyle Abbott, to touch the rope while the ball was still in his hand.

The heartbreak for Hampshire came only a week after their defeat by Somerset in the Vitality Blast final.

Hampshire's Scott Currie, who had earned an England call-up earlier in the week but was not required for the T20s against Ireland, looked to have bowled his side to victory here as three wickets in his final over gave him figures of five for 31.

But after Ethan Brookes hit four sixes in a superb 34-ball 57 to haul Worcestershire back into contention after falling behind the rate required, Matthew Waite's two sixes in a five-ball 16 set up what had seemed an unlikely victory with 13 needed off Brad Wheal's final over.

Until then, Orr's 110 - his third century in this season's competition - including two sixes in addition to 10 fours and came off 130 balls, looked to have been the match-winning performance.

It took a superb one-handed catch off his own bowling by Waite to dismiss him.

Orr and fellow left-hander Nick Gubbins (38) put on 82 in 16.2 overs for the first wicket, but the opening pair apart, all-rounder James Fuller's 23 from 20 balls was the highest Hampshire score in the face of a disciplined response from Worcestershire's seam attack.

Bowling nine overs each, Waite took three for 60, Ben Allison impressed with two for 41 and a miserly Tom Taylor took one for 24.

Play had begun at the scheduled 11am start time, with Worcestershire opting to bowl first, perhaps with a nod to overcast conditions.

Orr and Gubbins, mainstays of the Hampshire batting along their path to a fourth final in the last seven editions of the 50-over competition, had the upper hand against Taylor and Khurram Shahzad, hitting nine boundaries to be 55 without loss in the opening 10-over powerplay.

Allison and Waite slowed their progress - and forced a breakthrough when Waite squared up Gubbins, who was caught at backward point off a leading edge. The skipper's 38 had taken him to 707 as the leading runscorer in this season's competition.

Fletcha Middleton departed between showers, mistiming Taylor to be caught at extra cover. The second break for rain came at 141 for two from just under 31 overs, after which Hampshire pushed the accelerator.

Orr walloped Brookes over deep midwicket before completing the fifth List A century of his career in a costly over for Waite that included a six and three fours, reaching the milestone off 118 balls with 14 fours in addition to his two maximums.

But Worcestershire removed Toby Albert via a top-edge to deep square and Ben Mayes, bowled by Brookes before Waite ended Orr's impressive innings via a brilliant one-handed caught-and-bowled.

Worcestershire's bowlers maintained their grip, conceding only one boundary in the last five overs, delivering 15 dot balls and picking up two more wickets as Fuller and Andrew Neal both picked out Brookes on the fence at wide long-on.

Their chase did not begin until 5.15pm after a long stoppage between innings but it got off to a flyer despite - 28 without loss from four overs after 19-year-old Daniel Lategan had lofted Wheal high over wide long-on for the first six of the innings.

But two setbacks checked their progress as Roderick sliced Fuller to third man and Currie's first ball had Lategan caught behind.

Kashif Ali and Jake Libby added 62 for the third wicket but their rate of progress was well behind what was needed as Gubbins rotated his quintet of bowlers, none of whom gave away easy runs and when Kashif was caught on the reverse at backward point, the Rapids still needed 94 at 93 for three in the 17th.

Libby was caught behind swinging at Currie, at which point Hampshire were clear favourites with Worcestershire still 81 short and less than seven overs remaining.

But Brookes kept them in contention and though Currie ended his charge via a steepling catch to 'keeper Ben Brown and dismissed Rob Jones and Taylor in his last over, Cullen had the final word.