Worcestershire stay in hunt for quarter-finals thanks to all-round show
Brett D'Oliveira and Ross Whiteley lay platform before Derbyshire fall short in chase
ECB Reporters' Network
02-Jul-2021
Brett D'Oliveira top-scored for Worcestershire • Getty Images
Worcestershire 167 for 6 (D'Oliveira 43) beat Derbyshire 153 for 8 (Wood 46, Morris 3-21) by 14 runs
Daryl Mitchell became a record-breaker as Worcestershire Rapids beat Derbyshire Falcons by 14 runs in the Vitality Blast North Group match at Derby. The 37-year-old became the first Worcestershire player to take 100 T20 wickets to help his side defend 167 for 6 which was built around Brett D'Oliveira's 43 and 37 from 21 balls by Ross Whiteley.
Former England seamer Jade Dernbach took 3 for 23 in his debut on loan from Surrey but despite 46 from Tom Wood, Derbyshire collapsed from 123 for 3 to end on 153 for 8.
Dernbach quickly made his mark, using his experience to deny scoring opportunities and remove Riki Wessels. Wessels chipped to mid-on after scoring 17 and after ending the Powerplay on 54 for 1, the Rapids unluckily lost Jake Libby run out when Matt Critchley deflected a D'Oliveira straight drive into the stumps.
D'Oliveira and Ben Cox found it hard to find the ropes against tight bowling and the pressure told when D'Oliveira drove Critchley low to cover with only one run coming from the legspinner's third over.
The discipline of Derbyshire's bowling had kept Worcestershire in check with the first six coming in the 15th over when Whiteley drove Mattie McKiernan back over his head. Whiteley pulled Logan van Beek for two fours before lofting Critchley over long-on for six but fell to a superb running catch by van Beek at deep midwicket off the last ball of the 17th over.
It was a big wicket as Dernbach and Fynn Hudson-Prentice restricted Worcestershire to 20 off the last three overs.
Luis Reece drilled Dylan Pennington over long-off for six but Harry Came was badly dropped at deep midwicket by Ed Barnard on 10. The Falcons plundered poor bowling before Came was bowled for 21 swinging at Charlie Morris off the last ball of the Powerplay which ended on 57 for 1.
Mitchell and Sodhi slowed the run flow and took two wickets in consecutive overs with Reece lbw to Sodhi before Leus du Plooy edged a reverse sweep to give Mitchell his landmark victim.
Derbyshire needed a big over and Wood delivered in the 16th, driving and cutting Sodhi for three fours. But Critchley swung Barnard to deep midwicket and when Charlie Morris took two wickets in the penultimate over, Derbyshire's chase was up.