THE Worcestershire Rapids are one win away from securing their place in the T20 Vitality Blast quarter-finals and can confirm their spot on Friday night when they welcome the Durham to a sold-out New Road.

The Rapids were well beaten by rivals Birmingham Bears in their last outing a week ago but remain in a good position to reach the last eight with two games left in the group stage.

And Friday night presents the first of two opportunities to seal their spot but back-to-back victories to end the campaign could also see the Rapids secure a top-two finish and a home quarter-final. 

The Rapids had started the campaign with four wins out of four, but similarly, they then went and lost four on the bounce.

But three wins inside a week put them right back in the mix and despite another defeat to the Bears last Friday, they remain in a strong position to make the quarters.

"We will determine whether we play well again on Friday and we will give ourselves the best chance," said head coach Alan Richardson.

"Those who don’t play in the red ball game have had a week to lick their wounds and get on with it.

"But I think we had a fantastic week bookended by two disappointing results but the performances in the middle were fantastic to win three really good games of cricket.

"I don’t want us as a group to forget that."

Worcestershire have not reached the knockout stages of the Blast since their final defeat to Essex Eagles back in 2019.

Since then, they have underperformed in the tournament and in two of the last three editions of the Blast, they have won just two games. 

There has been a marked upturn in performances this year, however, and the Rapids now have it all in their own hands.