Essex 376 for 5 (Westley 129, Critchley 102*, Thain 75) Worcestershire 269 (Libby 109, Kashif 51, Jones 3-47, Harmer 3-60) by 107 runs
Westley’s 104-ball 129 was his 11th in List A cricket, and second of the season, He shared a lively third-wicket stand of 122 with Critchley, whose 102 not out came from just 75 balls.
Essex made hay on a wicket upon which 638 runs were scored against Hampshire on Friday. After Luc Benkenstein departed to a ball from Beyers Swanepoel that leapt up on him to take the edge, Thain plundered a sizeable proportion of his 11 boundaries with textbook, flowing drives through extra cover.
He was chanceless until sweeping Fateh Singh to deep midwicket when he had reached 75. His reluctance to exit the stage suggested he thought a third successive century was very much on the cards.
Westley had kept pace with his younger partner, passing fifty from four fewer balls, hitting straight and also finding the boundary through extra cover. He even launched Singh back down the ground for six on the way to reaching three figures from 87 balls.
The loss of Thain did not disrupt Essex’s run-rate, which hovered around seven an over. It increased even more when Critchley marked his half-century with a pulled six and a cover-driven four from two Ben Gibbon deliveries.
But three balls after depositing Singh over long-on for a second six, Westley stretched to reach a wide, lost his balance and was stumped. The runs dried up slightly afterwards as wickets fell. But a wayward, nine-ball over costing 19 from Swanepoel revived Essex at the death and Critchley duly reached his second career List A hundred in the last over.
The Rapids lost Brett D’Oliveira to injury in the warm-up, and his replacement Isaac Mohammed lasted just three balls before he nicked Jamie Porter to the wicketkeeper. Next ball, his opening partner Rehaan Edavalath was run out by Benkenstein’s direct throw from backward point.
Gareth Roderick and Libby consolidated for 13 overs with a stand of 60 before Roderick swung lustily at Jones and was caught low down at third man.
Kashif Ali tried to reduce the asking rate below 10 with fifty at better than a run a ball. But after putting on 81 in 13 overs with Libby he attempted to hit Mitch Killeen’s second delivery out of the ground and only found mid-on.
Late hitting by Swanepoel took him to 30 from 15 balls before falling to a sharp stumping off Harmer. And the South African offspinner then ended Libby’s 100-ball stay, caught at mid-on.
