All-round Ethan Brookes keeps Rapids' slim hopes bubbling

Worcestershire Rapids retained their sliver of a hope of Vitality Blast qualification with a 45-run win over Notts Outlaws at Visit Worcestershire New Road.

The Rapids amassed a hefty 206 for seven thanks to punchy contributions from the top five, led by Ethan Brookes (57 from 20 balls) and Brett D'Oliveira (46, 36). Dillon Pennington took 3 for 34.

The Outlaws replied with 161 all out (Tom Moores 57 from 29, Matt Montgomery 47 from 22, Brookes 3 for 30) to suffer a defeat which leaves their qualification hopes also hanging by a thread. The Outlaws must beat Lancashire Lightning tomorrow and hope that Warwickshire Bears and Leicestershire Foxes lose. The Rapids, meanwhile, their group games over, need the Bears, Foxes and Outlaws to lose, accompanied by the required seismic shift in net run-rate.

Both sides require a highly unlikely cocktail of results from the final round of games. After their erratic campaigns, it's highly likely that neither will figure in the quarter-finals.

The Rapids were put in but Isaac Mohammed (27, 15) delivered a vibrant start before he was superbly held on the deep mid-wicket boundary by Calvin Harrison, so close to the Ladies Pavilion that he could have had a cake.

D'Oliveira and Kashif Ali kept the tempo high with a stand of 62 from 39 balls. Kashif (34, 21) lifted Liam Patterson-White to long-on and D'Oliveira steered Pennington to slip but Brookes and Adam Hose bashed 59 from 28 balls.

Hose (33, 21) lifted Pennington to long off but Brookes struck the ball beautifully to thunder to an 18-ball half-century. He took his side past 200 with 16 from three balls from Sams in the final over.

The Outlaws' chase suffered early damage when Freddie McCann sliced a slog at the eighth ball, from Khurram Shahzad, to cover and Jack Haynes was brilliantly caught by Blast debutant Ben Gibbons at long on. Gibbons took a simpler catch from a failed Joe Clarke scoop off Shahzad and when Moises Henriques skewed Brookes to backward point, The Outlaws were 49 for four and in a pickle.

Montgomery kept his side in contention by flailing a six and nine fours. The South African was starting to worry the home fans and had taken 19 from a Ben Allison over before lifting the last ball of it to deep cover.

Brookes' happy day continued when he had Sams and Patterson-White caught off successive balls. Moore peered through the gloaming to biff a 27-ball half-century but his departure, to another fine boundary catch, this time by Hose, effectively ended the content.

Both these teams still harbour a vestigial hope of qualification but both are likely to be sitting at home in quarter-final week pondering what might have been with a bit more consistency.