One of the better summers of English cricket is enjoying a happy climax. Nottinghamshire are on the verge of deposing Surrey as county champions after their three-year reign. In the 50-over Metro Bank One-Day Cup final an exciting victory was achieved by Worcestershire, almost from nowhere, after their target had been reduced by rain to 188 off 27 overs and they lurched over the line with two balls to spare.
The Metro competition is more like a level playing field than the County Championship, where the counties owning Test grounds are enriched and advantaged. Worcestershire’s victory follows those in this revised competition by Glamorgan (twice), although their Cardiff stadium was once a Test ground, Kent and Leicestershire.
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It can be dismissed as a developmental competition, designed to keep red-ball supporters happy during the Hundred, but as such it has its uses. Anyone who excels in 50-over cricket can excel in any format, as it offers scope for all the skills. And England might even be able to put up a show in the next 50-over World Cup, having failed to do so in 2023 when so few of their batsmen knew how to pace a 50-over innings.
In this year’s competition, and especially in the final, Hampshire’s Ali Orr revealed himself as an outstanding prospect as a left-handed opening batsman, albeit he ended on the losing side. He is 24 and when the time comes for Ben Duckett to sweep or swish or switch-hit his last ball for England, Orr might be ripe to replace him as a Test or one-day international opener.
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When Hampshire were forced to bat under floodlights that burned the whole cloudy day long, Orr and Nick Gubbins demonstrated why they were two of the three highest run-scorers in this year’s competition as they plundered the first five overs of Khurram Shahzad for 41 during the powerplay. A fringe Pakistan Test bowler, Shahzad was one of very few overseas players in this summer’s Metro, because the better ones were engaged in the Hundred, like the better England-qualified players (convention dictates that you do not select players for the knockout stages who have not appeared in the qualifying round).
Two misfields in the first four overs of Hampshire’s innings cost five runs before Worcestershire tightened up, but primarily the strokeplay of Orr and Gubbins was international standard. Orr has lost half a season to injury, and moved from Sussex to Hampshire, but from the moment he cut the game’s first ball for four he had the stature – and the hint of a strut – of a Test opener. Ethan Brookes, of Worcestershire, was the only other player to reach 50 in his 57 off 34 deliveries.
Ethan Brookes’ 57 off 34 balls was crucial to Worcestershire’s victory push – PA/Nigel French
Hampshire were put at a further disadvantage when the second of three rain breaks intervened when they had reached 141 for two off 30.5 overs, Orr going strong on 71. Hampshire had to switch to T20 mode when they resumed as the game had been reduced to 45 overs, and they had only 14.5 left. Orr reached 110 off 130 balls, but nobody else could do much hitting as Worcestershire bowled plenty of yorkers of various widths and slower balls into the pitch, and fielded much better than at the outset.
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Worcestershire’s original target was 251 off 45 overs, which was reduced after yet more rain to 188 off 27. Both targets were stiff for a county who are strong in seam bowling and team spirit, but not too many other departments, and they steadily fell behind the rate, even in their powerplay. Kashif Ali and Jake Libby took time to rebuild, Kashif managing little more than singles.
Worcestershire had more supporters than Hampshire in a ground that was barely quarter-full, and their all-rounder Brookes finally hit at the required rate. He brought the target down to 25 off two overs, before Matthew Waite took charge of the task of scoring 13 off the last. Once a challenge, such a job has become routine nowadays, and Waite followed up an edged two with a pull for six. The new batsman Henry Cullen then played another pull that was judged to be four when Kyle Abbott fell on the boundary marker in the process of dropping the ball.
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Worcestershire celebrate their victory in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup final – PA/Nigel French
The pitch for Nottinghamshire’s championship decider against Warwickshire is some dozen yards closer to the River Trent than the one for this final: it was covered in matting, obviously, to prevent damage, and is currently a lighter shade of green. Notts need 10 points to take their first championship title since 2010, or fewer if Surrey fail to win the full 24 at Southampton.
After failing to make much of their recent resources, Notts have found the right formula at last, starting with solid teamwork, after absorbing their four signings from poor old Worcestershire. The main one has been Josh Tongue, who has taken 31 wickets in his six championship games. During the summer he has grown into a Test bowler, angling the ball into right-handers before nipping it away, like Ben Stokes or Colin Croft of yore, and running it away from left-handers: England are going to bowl out Australia this winter if four out of Tongue, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson are fit for every Test.
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The new Notts teamwork is reflected in their batting in depth, and they have made clever overseas selections, like South Africa’s wicketkeeper-batsman Kyle Verreynne, and the unheralded fast-medium Fergus O’Neill and Mohammad Abbas, who have taken 47 wickets between them. They even bowled one over of spin at the Oval in their momentous victory last week: only one over, but it brought a Surrey wicket and made all the difference.
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