Fell century sends Lancashire out of One-Day Cup after Worcester defeat

Tom Fell achieved his first century in any format since making his comeback from two spells of cancer to guide Worcestershire to a comfortable victory by four wickets at New Road and end Lancashire's hopes of reaching the quarter-finals in the One-Day Cup.

The Worcestershire batsman recorded his first List A hundred and a career-best score of 116 not out, as the Rapids chased a modest target of 268 with 14 balls to spare to keep their last-eight hopes intact. Steven Croft led his side to 267/7 with a defiant 78, sharing useful partnerships with Karl Brown (43) and latterly Luke Procter (47), but the visitors fell short of a truly competitive score.

Defeat against Worcester means that Lancashire have now been eliminated from both the One-Day Cup and T20 Blast in the space of less than 48 hours, with the Red Rose county returning to four-day action at Hampshire on Thursday. Fell - who suffered two bouts of testicular cancer since Christmas - anchored the Worcester run-chase superbly, supported by cameos from Ross Whiteley (38) and Ben Cox (31) down the order to ensure two valuable points for the hosts.

Hopeful of recording three white-ball victories in a row, Lancashire decided to bat first at New Road, with Alviro Petersen displaying early intent inside the powerplay with two boundaries in the second over off Ed Barnard. The South-African opener overcame a brief issue with his hamstring to record seven boundaries in total during his brisk 32 from 27 balls, but the loss of Tom Smith (14) in the seventh over halted Lancashire's progress.

Smith miscued a delivery from Kyle Abbott to Joe Leach at mid-off at 30/1, attempting to play the ball into the leg-side, but only managing to send the ball high into the air for a simple catch. Petersen continued to go along in boundaries, perhaps due to any latent concerns about his hamstring, hitting Abbott for three boundaries in a row to reinvigorate the innings, but his dismissal signalled a circumspect recovery from Lancashire thereafter.

His three fours were immediately followed by a thin edge through to Ben Cox, as Petersen fell to compatriot Abbott (3-56) at 49/2. Liam Livingstone attempted to rectify the situation with the first maximum of the match from the bowling of off-spinner George Rhodes, but quick work from Cox behind the stumps ensured another of Lancashire's batsman was back in the pavilion.

Livingstone (18) was caught down the leg-side to give Rhodes (1-59) respite after being dispatched for six in the previous over and with wickets continuing to fall at regular intervals, Lancashire were forced to retreat from their positive approach into a much more sensible mindset. The Worcester spinners were able to take advantage of this by pinning Lancashire down in the middle overs, with Brett D'Oliveira in particular excelling with the ball to finish with 0-27 from ten overs.

Brown and Croft helped Lancashire to add 64 runs for the fourth wicket, but the pressure of the economical bowling eventually started to build on the visitors. Cox was in action once again behind the stumps to remove Brown for 43 when Daryll Mitchell (1-41) encouraged a thing edge through to the keeper, while Croft progressed to a crucial half-century in 78 balls, one that included a pulled six and four boundaries.

Procter attempted to inject some impetus into the innings by scoring 47 from 48 balls, supporting his skipper with another dependable knock for Lancashire in the 50-over format. The all-rounder came close to recording his third half-century of the campaign after hitting Rhodes back over his head for a huge six, adding 99 runs with Croft for the fifth wicket inside 15 overs to put Lancashire back on course.

However, both batsmen were dismissed in the space of ten balls in the closing stages of the innings, with Croft falling for a valiant 78 to a stunning catch in the deep by Whiteley off Barnard (1-41). Procter then departed three runs shy of his fifty when he failed to connect with a ramp shot to Abbott, who claimed his third wicket to leave the score at 256/6. Jordan Clark (9) then followed to Leach (1-38) in the final over of the innings when he picked out Rhodes on the long-off boundary, as Lancashire posted 267/7.

Saqib Mahmood overcame dislocating his finger by removing the hosting skipper Mitchell (5) at the start of the fourth over when he edged behind to Tom Moores at 12/1, but an expensive over worth 15 runs from Kyle Jarvis in the next over largely set the tone for a costly powerplay for Lancashire. Fell started the over with the first of 15 boundaries and that was followed up by a boundary and then a six from the final ball by Kohler-Cadmore, who struck a run-a-ball 30 at the top of the innings.

Fell then hit three fours in a row off Mahmood in the next over, with Lancashire conceding 30 runs in the space of two overs. Croft felt the wrath of a confident Worcestershire batting line-up, conceding 13 runs from his first over to set the platform for a relatively straightforward victory at 68/1 after the first ten overs.

Smith forced a much-needed breakthrough in the following over when he had Kohler-Cadmore caught well by Brown in the deep at 70/2, although successive boundaries for England Lions batsman Joe Clarke (25) offered Lancashire negligible respite. Clarke and Fell established an accomplished partnership worth 46 runs before the former was held well by Brown, diving forward at short mid-off, an overdue wicket given that Worcester were comfortably ahead of where they needed to be.

Stephen Parry (2-44) brought Lancashire back into contention when he had D'Oliveira (4) stumped by Moores, the second wicket to fall in the space of 11 balls, but Fell progressed to a 47-ball fifty with eight boundaries to indicate his intent to take the Rapids to victory. Fell found able support in the hard-hitting Whiteley, adding 83 runs for the fifth wicket to deny Lancashire a passage back into the contest.

Whiteley welcomed Clark into the attack with two boundaries in succession from his only over of the match, falling for 38 when he was bowled by Croft (1-49) at 205/5. Any fears of a Lancashire revival were put to bed by a cameo of 31 from 25 balls by Cox, who attempted to end the match with a flurry of boundaries and a straight six.

Fell completed what has surely been an arduous comeback from his cancer treatment in the winter with a maiden List A century and his first hundred since making his return to the game in 104 balls. By the time Cox fell to Mahmood (2-35) at 262/6, the contest had long-since been decided, with Fell finishing unbeaten on 116 from 123 deliveries to guide Worcester to a four-wicket victory with 14 balls to spare, sending Lancashire out of the One-Day Cup before their final group game against Durham tomorrow.