STUNNED Worcestershire picked up a couple of unwanted records as their Benson and Hedges Cup campaign got off to the worst possible start with a six wicket defeat against Gloucestershire at New Road yesterday.
The County not only plunged to their lowest ever total in one-day cricket but also entered the record books for being involved in the earliest finish to a match in the competition.
After being put in, skipper Graeme Hick's men were rushed out for a meagre 70 in 22 overs and 97 minutes, enabling Gloucestershire to complete their demolition job by 1.50pm.
The County's previous lowest limited-over score was 81 against Leicestershire at New Road in 1983, also in the Benson and Hedges Cup.
The previous quickest victory in the competition had been by Middlesex in 1978 when they beat Sussex by eight wickets at Hove by 2.12pm.
Things soon started going disastrously wrong for the County from the minute they were put in to face the pace threat of Gold Award winner Ian Harvey and Jon Lewis. Both exploited the conditions superbly to deservedly collect four wickets apeice.
Once Harvey struck to remove opener Stephen Peters, the County began collapsing. Half their shell-shocked side were out for a staggering nine runs which later became 14-6 and then 28-7.
Only three batsman managed to get into double figures -- newcomer Gareth Batty (12), wicketkeeper Steve Rhodes (15) and paceman Kabir Ali (27)
For Ali it was his best score in one-day cricket which he followed up later by taking three Gloucestershire wickets for 21 runs in five overs.
His battling efforts earned praise from the County's Director of Cricket Tom Moody, who said: "Kabir is a good young cricketer. He has come off a good 50 in a first-class game just recently and he batted probably the only way you should on a wicket like that and chance your arm and try to reverse the pressure on the opposition. He managed to find the middle of the bat a bit."
Although Kabir did his best, Gloucestershire needed just 18.2 overs to win with opener Kim Barnett leading the way with 33 before he became one of Kabir's victims.
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