Worcestershire finally win a game
Source -
sportinglife.com
Jonathan Trott made the sparks fly during a power blackout in a Twenty20 Cup thriller but could not save his side from a damaging defeat by Worcestershire at a packed Edgbaston.
The South African was left unbeaten with 75 from 48 balls when the Royals edged home by four runs to register their first win in six games.
With 18 wanted from the final over, Tony Frost raised Warwickshire's hopes with a six over midwicket from the fourth ball but Roger Sillence effectively killed off the home side by bowling the wicketkeeper with his next delivery.
A crowd of more than 15,000 had been kept in the dark about the state of the game when both scoreboards shut down during a localised powercut halfway through Worcestershire's progress to 186 for five.
What information there was dribbled out through the public address system between overs but in a breakdown in public relations during the 15-minute interval, the club staged a fancy dress competition before the fans were given an end-of-innings summary.
At least there was an improvement in the service when the announcer went into the scorer's box to supply regular updates as Warwickshire's stumbled into problems in their reply.
The left handers, Neil Carter and Nick Knight, failed to make any impression against new-ball pair
Zaheer Khan and Sillence, and Mark Wagh (24) was first to go in a double success for Matt Mason in the eighth over.
Trott then went to work in a sustained counter-attack, bringing four fours and three sixes, but Warwickshire could not quite keep up the momentum and are now in danger of missing the knockout phase for the first time in four seasons.
An unbeaten 69 by Ben Smith had enabled Worcestershire to post their highest score in a miserable Twenty20 campaign.
The early loss of Graeme Hick was nullified when Lou Vincent hit two sixes and reached 40 from 28 balls before swinging across a full toss from Heath Streak.
Left arm spinner Paul Harris, Warwickshire's new Kolpak signing from South Africa, picked up two wickets in the middle order but was more expensive than most in a four-over stint costing 45 runs.
Vikram Solanki (43 from 28 balls) and Gareth Batty were both caught by Knight, patrolling the boundary between long-on and midwicket.
But Smith, after surviving an early chance off Harris, ploughed on with six fours and three sixes from 44 deliveries.
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