ABOUT THE MATCH
Worcestershire Rapids will look to confirm their place alongside Notts Outlaws in the quarter-finals of the 2019 Vitality Blast when they meet at New Road in their North Group fixture on August 28.
The Outlaws have already confirmed their quarter-final place with three wins from their last three completed matches. Another win will ensure they are at Trent Bridge for that quarter-final fixture.
Worcestershire, meanwhile, still need one more point to seal their last-eight place. The Rapids lost their last home game – a high-scoring 25-run defeat to table-topping Lancashire Lightning – having won two in a row before that.
Toss Prediction
Worcestershire won the toss in their last home game and elected to field first. If the Rapids are successful again – having also won the toss when these teams last met – they may stick with that option despite losing to the league leaders.
Pitch and Condition
There is a chance of rain throughout the day in Worcester, with the fixture unfortunately scheduled on one of the poorer days of the past week weather-wise. They may get a full game if they are lucky, however.
While New Road has had more than its fair share of issues with rain and water-logging, the pitch was perfect for batting last time out – an afternoon when 411 runs were scored in their last T20 match.
PROBABLE PLAYING XI OF Worcestershire
Riki Wessels, Hamish Rutherford, Moeen Ali (c), Wayne Parnell, Tom Fell, Ben Cox (wk), Ross Whiteley, Ed Barnard, Daryl Mitchell, Dillon Pennington, Patrick Brown
PROBABLE PLAYING XI OF Nottinghamshire
Alex Hales, Joe Clarke, Ben Duckett, Jake Libby, Tom Moores (wk), Dan Christian (c), Samit Patel, Luke Fletcher, Luke Wood, Matthew Carter, Harry Gurney
MATCH PREVIEW
Worcestershire
- Moeen Ali’s England omission has been the Rapids’ gain, with the all-rounder back to captain the Rapids in this year’s Blast.
- He starred alongside Riki Wessels in the win against Birmingham Bears but another key figure – Martin Guptill – is now away with New Zealand.
- Tom Fell replaced his last time out. It is the second overseas player they have lost, with Callum Ferguson returning home for personal reasons.
- Worcestershire closed in on a play-off place either side of the break for the round of County Championship fixtures.
- They defended 117/7 to win a thrilling low-scoring game against Durham by three runs and then thrashed Birmingham Bears by nine wickets, with unbeaten half-centuries from Riki Wessels (65*) and Moeen Ali (85*).Last time out, however, they suffered a high-scoring defeat to Lancashire Lightning.
- Set 219 to win at New Road, they were well behind the asking rate until Ross Whiteley smashed an unbeaten 89 from 40 balls, but they still finished well short on 193/7.
Nottinghamshire
- Soon-to-depart Luke Wood was back in the team last time out, replacing Jake Ball in the only change from the win against Leicestershire Foxes.
- Notts Outlaws have won their last three Vitality Blast matches, most recently seeing off Leicestershire Foxes and Yorkshire Vikings in the past week.
- Alex Hales hammered 60 from 39 balls in the seven-wicket win against the Foxes, after Luke Fletcher’s 3-17 had helped restrict the hosts to 161/8.
- Joe Clarke then top-scored with exactly 50 in the last match, before some late hitting from Dan Christian lifted the Outlaws to 148/7.
- In reply, they restricted the Vikings to 145/7. Luke Fletcher took two wickets in the penultimate over and Harry Gurney added another in the final over as they restricted Yorkshire to 14 runs between them, having needed 18 to win.
PROBABLE WINNING TEAM:
Notts Outlaws have already secured their play-off place but will want another win to ensure they book a home quarter-final. With the Rapids missing Martin Guptill and Callum Ferguson, the Outlaws can take advantage and earn a fourth consecutive win.
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