Trott best puts Bears in quarters

TWENTY20 CUP MIDLANDS/WEST/WALES DIVISION, New Road:
Warwickshire 166-3 beat Worcestershire 162-6 by seven wickets (Warwicks 2pts, Worcs 0pts)

Worcestershire v Warwickshire scorecard

Jonathan Trott has now hit 431 runs in nine innings in this year's Twenty20

Jonathan Trott hit his highest score in Twenty20 cricket as Warwickshire's seven-wicket win at New Road put them through to the quarter-finals.

The England Lions opener, who made 53 in beating Worcestershire four weeks ago, was again undefeated with 86 to earn the Bears a local derby double.

Chasing 162-6, Trott and Neil Carter (45) put on the Bears' first-ever Twenty20 century partnership.

And victory on 166-3 secured one of the two best third-place finishes.

Although Worcestershire could still catch them on 12 points if they win at Northampton on Sunday and the Bears lose, the first of the criteria for teams finishing level is how they got on against each other.

And the Bears' two wins over their local rivals, coupled with the fact that no third-placed team in the North Division can get any more than 11 points, sees them though.

Ashley Giles's side could even end up winning the group, in an equation half of which is in their own hands.

If the Bears beat second-placed Somerset on Sunday, and table-topping Northants lose at home to Worcestershire, they would finish top of the Mids/West/Wales Division.

And, even if Northants win, a Bears victory could still earn a home quarter-final as the best of the second place finishers on 14 points.

TROTTY'S TWENTY20 IN 2009

16 v Northants (Wantage Road, 25 July)

42 v Somerset (Taunton, 27 May)

53no v Worcestershire (Edgbaston, 29 May)

55 v Glamorgan (Sophia Gardens, 30 May)

44 v Northants (Edgbaston, 1 June)

29 v Gloucestershire (Edgbaston, 4 June)

73no v Gloucestershire (Nevil Road, 22 June)

33 v Glamorgan (Edgbaston, 23 June)

86no v Worcestershire (New Road, 26 June)

Feasting on some ragged Worcestershire bowling, Bears openers Trott and Carter had reached 55 by the end of the sixth over. And they added 50 more before Moeen Ali took two wickets in successive balls.

After top-scoring with 46 against his former county, the left-arm spinner trapped Carter leg before, then had Jim Troughton caught at cover.

But Trott remained untroubled, going back ahead of Mark Ramprakash as the top scorer in seven seasons of English Twenty20 cricket by taking his 2009 tally to 431 runs from nine innings.

He finished the match in style, hitting Gareth Andrew for the last of his three sixes off the first ball of the 20th over.

He also clouted nine fours off his 62 balls as he surpassed his previous Twenty20 best, 75 not out, also against Worcestershire at Edgbaston three years ago.

In fact, he has become something of a Twenty20 thorn in Worcestershire sides.

In the two Midland counties' last six meetings in the competition, Trott has now hit five half centuries in six innings, piled up 362 runs, only twice been out - and the Bears have now won the last five of those games in a row.

To complete a bad night for Worcestershire, home skipper Vikram Solanki was unable to lead his side in the field because of a sore back.

BBC WM's Mike Taylor gives his New Road verdict:

"Qualifying at all represents some sort of achievement for a Warwickshire side written off by many, including quite a few of their own supporters, as insufficiently equipped for the competition.

"Achieving it with a game to spare, and after losing their first two, is particularly impressive.

"Jonathan Trott deserves the headlines for another mature, classy and perfectly timed contribution.

"He looked like he was playing a different game to everyone else, and his consistent weighty efforts at the top of the order have been vital.

"But credit is also due to the bowlers, the subject of much of the criticism at the start of the tournament, especially when they conceded big totals in those two early defeats.

"What they may have lacked in experience, they have made up for with imagination and nerve.

"Keith Barker's composure under fire has pegged back fancied opponents, and Stefan Piolet's gentle wobblers have frustrated some good players and embarrassed the unwary.

"Whether this improvement in the shortest format has any bearing on Warwickshire's Championship season won't become clear for a while, but it should at least help a few of their younger, unheralded players to feel more at home in county cricket.

"Some of them have grown up an awful lot in the last few weeks."