One-Day Cup: Rob Jones ton powers Worcestershire to seven-wicket win over Northants
- Published
Rob Jones and Jake Libby's stand of 194 beat Worcestershire's previous best for the third wicket against Northants in List A games
Metro Bank One Day Cup, Wantage Road, Northampton: |
Northamptonshire 252 (49 overs): Taylor 100; Pennington 3-47 |
Worcestershire 253-3 (43.1 overs): Jones 122, Libby 82; Taylor 2-34 |
Worcestershire win by seven wickets |
Rob Jones struck a maiden List A hundred as Worcestershire defied a Tom Taylor-inspired Northamptonshire to cruise to victory and go third in Group B of the One-Day Cup.
Jones (122) put on 194 for the third wicket with captain Jake Libby (82) to chase down 253 to win with ease.
Taylor's own ton had dragged Northants from 139-7 to 252 all out off 49 overs.
Taylor (2-34) then put Worcestershire under early pressure before Jones and Libby swept the visitors to victory.
The win takes the Pears up to third in the table, above Northants, on eight points - two points behind unbeaten leaders Warwickshire, to remain in the hunt for the latter stages of the competition.
After three wins in a row, Northants came into the match at Wantage Road with their preparations hit by the loss of their star batter Prithvi Shaw, who will miss the rest of the competition after injuring his knee.
After losing the toss and batting first, the home side were immediately feeling the Indian's absence as Emilio Gay edged Matthew Waite (2-42) to slip for a duck to the eighth ball of the innings.
When fast bowler Dillon Pennington (3-47) removed Sam Whiteman and Shaw's replacement Ricardo Vasconcelos within four overs of each other, Northants were struggling on 38-3 with 10 balls of the powerplay remaining.
A stand of 49 between Rob Keogh and Luke Proctor restored some stability, before the innings seemed set to self destruct as Northants lost three wickets for 18 amid a flurry of poor strokes.
When captain Lewis McManus had his leg stump knocked out by Waite for 15, they were 139-7 with just under 18 overs left - and in danger of collapsing in a heap.
But Taylor had other ideas.
He counter-attacked brilliantly - driving, sweeping and clattering 14 fours and one six off 80 balls on his way to a second century of the competition, adding to his career-best 112 against Gloucestershire in the opening game.
He put on 108 with James Sales (25), just four runs short of equalling the club's all-time record in List A games for the eighth wicket, before Sales was pinned lbw by Pennington.
When Taylor was last out for exactly 100, he had helped add 147 for the last four wickets in just under 24 overs.
Jones and Libby crush Northants hopes
Worcestershire, looking to get back on track in the competition by their hammering by Warwickshire, lost in-form Gareth Roderick in peculiar fashion as he was given out to the final ball of the first over of their reply.
Roderick was hit on the pad by a ball from Taylor that cut back and looped to second slip. With Northants seemingly initially appealing for lbw, umpires Simon Widdup and Ian Herbert consulted before Roderick was sent on his way.
The official dismissal was caught at slip by Emilio Gay, despite replays suggesting Roderick had not edged the ball.
When Ed Pollock was caught in the deep for 25 off Taylor, Worcestershire were wobbling at 40-2, only for Jones and Libby to ease their worries with their classy stand - the county's highest in List A games against Northants.
Libby's classical half century was the perfect foil for Jones' mix of muscle and invention as the two left the home bowlers, who weren't helped by two dropped catches, bereft of ideas.
When Jones was eventually caught at deep square-leg off spinner Simon Kerrigan the run-chase was effectively over, as Libby completed the seven-wicket win with 41 balls to spare.