Hepburn's fine debut brings consolation win for Worcestershire

Worcestershire 176 for 2 (Fell 60*, Clarke 51*) beat Leicestershire 172 (Hepburn 4-34) by eight wickets
Scorecard

Worcestershire Rapids ended a run of five consecutive defeats in the Royal London Cup by romping to an eight-wicket-wicket win against Leicestershire Foxes at New Road.

With nothing on the match in terms of progressing to the knockout stage, the only issue was which team would be left without a victory at the bottom of Group A.

Leicestershire sealed their own fate when dismissed for 172 after a dismal display by the top order and Worcestershire were hardly stretched as half-centuries by Tom Fell and Joe Clarke took them home with 18 overs to spare.

It would have been worse for the Foxes but for a face-saving partnership of 74 by Clint McKay and Zak Chappell, with 31 in his first senior innings, after a collapse to 98 for 8 in the 29th over.

They were only four runs short of the county's ninth-wicket in List A competitions when Worcestershire's Australian-born all-rounder Alex Hepburn took the last two wickets in successive balls for a return of 4 for 34 on his debut.

The 19-year-old Hepburn, a British passport-holder through his Scottish parents, got his chance after scoring four centuries in second-team games this season, but it was his medium-paced bowling that made the biggest impression.

When Hepburn came on as first-change seamer, Leicestershire were already on the slide after two wickets for England Under-19 pace bowler Ed Barnard and another for Ross Whiteley.

Niall O'Brien gave a straightforward chance to slip, Angus Robson drove loosely to cover and Aadil Ali was bowled by a good-length ball. Hepburn needed only eight deliveries to claim his first success, an ugly swipe by Lewis Hill (17) finding mid-on, and his next contribution was to remove Ned Eckersley from another poor shot to short mid-wicket.

Saeed Ajmal was quietly effective in tandem with Hepburn. The off-spinner's return of three for 33, his best in List cricket since remodelling his action, would have been marginally better but for the combative McKay driving his last delivery for six.

The Australian, dropped at slip off Ajmal when he had made only one, kept Worcestershire in the field until Hepburn came back to bowl Chappell and Atif Sheikh.

As Leicestershire probably feared, Worcestershire were up and running with Tom Kohler-Cadmore outscoring captain Daryl Mitchell until he was bowled by Rob Taylor for 31 out of 56.

Mitchell was leg-before to Chappell in the 15th over but there was never a sign of a slip-up after that. Fell cruised to 60 not out with nine fours from 66 balls and Clarke reached an unbeaten 51 from 50 deliveries after hitting three fours and two sixes.

For Clarke, another 19-year-old in the Rapids' ranks, it was a third consecutive score of 50 or more in the competition after making 54 against Surrey and 131 not out against Gloucestershire.