Sharp can't wait for another super showdown with Birmingham Bears

Worcestershire Rapids have already come out on top with the Bears in a make-or-break Royal London One-Day Cup North Group match at the same venue, which sealed them a home semi-final and eliminated their opponents

^{Worcestershire Rapids beat Birmingham Bears in a compelling One-Day game earlier this season}

Worcestershire Rapids head coach Kevin Sharp is looking forward with relish to Friday’s Vitality Blast North Group showdown with Birmingham Bears at Edgbaston.

“These are the sort of games you play cricket for,” said the former Yorkshire batsman, who featured in many Roses meetings with Lancashire.

The Rapids have already come out on top with the Bears in a make-or-break Royal London One-Day Cup North Group match at the same venue, which sealed them a home semi-final and eliminated their opponents.

Now the stakes are similar with the Rapids again in contention for a home knockout tie in the quarter-finals and the Bears, who entertain Lancashire Lightning on Wednesday, hoping to seal a top-four spot.

Durham Jets (18 points), Lightning (17) and the Rapids (17) are all in the hunt for a top two placing.

^{Kevin Sharp is eagerly awaiting the next installment} 

Sharp said: “We want a home quarter-final and, if we could achieve that after a home semi-final in the One-Day Cup, it would represent a magnificent effort from the boys.

“We’ve lost the last two T20 games but they have been fine margins, could have gone either way, and we have come out on top for most of the summer.

“These sort of games are what you play cricket for. You play cricket for the big nights and the local rivalries. I was part of plenty of Yorkshire-Lancashire fixtures and I know what these fixtures are like down here. They equal that. Everyone looks forward to the Bears games. There is a good crowd, a good atmosphere.

T20 BLAST NEWS

“But the bottom line is it’s always a big night there and, where we are in the league, won’t make any difference. We won’t be thinking of that. We will just go out and do our best to beat them.”

The Worcestershire players will return to training on Wednesday after being given a couple of days off to recharge their batteries after playing three games in the space of 72 hours.

Sharp said: “We will prepare as normal and hopefully win and get over the line at Edgbaston and hopefully the other results will go our way.

^{Pat Brown has now taken 25 Blast wickets this season}

“We’ve won the 50-over and the first T20 against the Bears but you just can’t take anything for granted.

“They may have all to play for as well in terms of qualifying for the knockout stages.”

Pat Brown will be looking to continue his stunning form with the ball in the Blast and his 3-28 versus Notts Outlaws on Sunday means he now has 25 wickets to his name – the most in the country this summer.

Sharp said: “He has done brilliantly. He is a young man who is learning his trade and he is learning fast.

“It’s great to see the development of such a young player.”

Report courtesy of the ECB Reporters Network