Worcestershire Rapids head coach, Alan Richardson, didn't think his team "deserved to win" after their 22-run loss to Durham in the T20 Blast and blamed the fact that "basics weren’t there"
Worcestershire Rapids lost by 22 runs to Durham in a T20 Blast game at Chester-le-Street last night.
Chasing 190, Rapids were restricted to just 168 all out thanks to three wickets apiece for Ben Dwarshuis (3 for 35) and Ben Raine (3 for 30).
Worcestershire head coach Alan Richardson, who was not very impressed with his team's performance, told the ECB Reporters Network: "I thought we gave a decent account of ourselves tonight, but the basics weren't there to be honest.
"It was just in general, energy in the field and off the ball stuff was poor, we've had a couple of weeks away from it and it probably looked that way but that's no excuse as we knew what the schedule would be like."
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It was the Rapid's seventh loss of their T20 Blast campaign which meant they remained rooted to the bottom of the North Group with just four points.
Richardson added: "I don't think we deserved to win today, Durham played really well, they got a very competitive total.
"I think whilst we battled along to keep ourselves in the game, we were neck and neck for long periods, they put enough pressure on and made sure that it was really difficult for us to get a roll on."
The Rapids have endured a poor T20 Blast campaign (David Rodgers/Getty Images)
For Durham, the victory means they are third in the North ground and are well set to push for the knockout stages.
Micheal Jones, Durham batter, expressed his joy to the ECB Reporters Network: "We're absolutely buzzing with that one.
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"It's a competition that we really want to do well in as we had a good championship campaign last year and we wanted to bring that into the Blast this year."
The Scotland opener, who scored an unbeaten 45 against England at the T20 World Cup, bats at seven for Durham and smashed 39 off 17 balls last night.
He said: "My role in the team has been pretty clear this year and I'm looking to come in at around the 14th or 15th over and hit sixes essentially. It's a really fun, enjoyable role and if it comes off like tonight then hopefully we'll get a few more wins."
Both teams return to action on Sunday as Durham take on Northamptonshire while the Rapids face another challenge as they play second-placed Lancashire.
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