Nottinghamshire reclaim top spot

Mark Wagh continued his fine form with another half-century as Nottinghamshire saw off Worcestershire at Trent Bridge

Nottinghamshire returned to the top of Group A in the Friends Provident Trophy with a four-wicket victory over Worcestershire at Trent Bridge.

Opener Mark Wagh led the way with 52 - his third half-century in four innings in the competition this season.

And a seventh-wicket partnership of 61 between Paul Franks and Adam Voges (35 not out) secured the win after a mid-innings collapse.

Franks completed the match in style, hitting Moeen Ali for a six and a four to finish unbeaten on 37 as the hosts successfully chased down their target of 210.

Worcestershire never recovered from losing top-order batsmen Vikram Solanki, Steven Davies and Stephen Moore in the early stages of their innings, with the half-centuries of Daryl Mitchell and Ali doing little more than papering over the cracks.

Captain Solanki was first to go, losing his middle stump to an off-cutter from Andre Adams, before Moore played on his next over.

Dangerman Davies, who had hit a match-winning 82 not out in the reverse fixture at New Road earlier in the week, was bowled by Paul Franks for 21 as the visitors slumped to 42 for three.

Moeen and Ben Smith pushed the score past 100 before the latter chipped a simple return catch to Samit Patel, and Moeen departed shortly after posting his fifty, driving to deep cover.

Mitchell ran the singles well to reach his half-century of 49 balls with just two boundaries, but was caught in the covers in the final over after Gareth Batty was defeated by a Luke Fletcher slower ball and Ian Fisher edged Mark Ealham behind.

Moeen Ali hit 58 for Worcestershire as they posted a total of 209-8 batting first

Nottinghamshire suffered an early setback in their chase when opener Ali Brown miscued a hook to point, but youngster Alex Hales injected some early momentum with powerful cuts and pulls, including launching Chris Whelan for six into the Bridgford Road Stand.

Whelan got his revenge when Hales tried to repeat the stroke and only managed a top-edge to midwicket, but with the hosts well ahead of the run-rate, Wagh and Patel could afford to play themselves in.

Patel exploded into life with successive drives off Batty for four and six, repeating the trick in Fisher’s first over of left-arm spin.

That closed the gap on Wagh, who reached his half-century off 66 balls with six fours but was then left helpless when Mitchell deflected Patel’s straight drive on to the stumps with non-striker Wagh out of his ground.

Patel threw his wicket away off the next ball, driving to Solanki at mid-off, and the jitters seemed to have set in when Will Jefferson and Chris Read also both fell cheaply.

But Voges and Franks showed admirable coolness under pressure to guide the hosts home with 33 balls to spare.