Essex Men v Worcestershire Rapids Men
Metro Bank One Day Cup
Ambassador Cruise Line Ground | Chelmsford.
Sunday 10 August 2025 | 11:00am start
Team News
Essex Men: Robin Das, Matt Critchley, Tom Westley (C), Charlie Allison, Luc Benkenstein, Noah Thain, Nick Browne, Simon Fernandes (WK), Shane Snater, Jamal Richards, Jamie Porter.
Worcestershire Men: Isaac Mohammed, Brett D’Oliveira, Kashif Ali, Jake Libby (C), Rob Jones, Ethan Brookes, Henry Cullen (WK), Matthew Waite, Fateh Singh, Ben Allison, Khurram Shahzad.
Match Details
Umpires: Naeem Ashraf & Paul Baldwin
Scorers: Helen Hyde & Sue Drinkwater
Toss: Worcestershire Men won the toss and elected to bat first
Result: Worcestershire won by 60 runs.
Match Reaction: Robin Das
Match Highlights
Match Report
Isacc Mohammed evoked the spirit of his uncle, the England all-rounder Moeen Ali, with a maiden half-century to get Worcestershire’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup campaign off the ground with victory at Chelmsford.
The 17-year-old opener, who only made his first-team debut in the Vitality Blast less than two months ago, played enterprisingly in laying the foundations for Worcestershire’s 60-run win against Essex with 28 balls to spare.
Worcestershire’s 340-9 was built around four big-hitting half-centuries from top-order batsmen, who shared 11 of 12 sixes in the innings with Mohammed landing four of them. His 63 from 75 balls was the appetiser before Kashif Ali (80 from 73) and Jake Libby (70 from 63) put on 110 in 17 overs. That preceding Ethan Brookes exploding on to the scene to take the game away from the still winless hosts.
Brookes was at the crease for 27 minutes while hammering four sixes and six fours in a 25-ball 56. His stand of 80 with Libby encompassed just six overs.
In response, Essex opener Robin Das took his tally to 147 runs in three innings with back-to-back fifties. But while others got in, they just as quickly got out and the target was never seriously threatened. Brookes made sure of that with 3-52.
It was not all rosy for Worcestershire, though. Rob Jones had declared himself unfit to play earlier in the morning but was named in the XI at the toss in what was later described as an ‘administrative error’ (expletive deleted). He came out at the fall of the ninth wicket, faced two balls, scored five not out and was not seen again.
The visitors recovered from an underwhelming 33 without loss in the 10-ovcr powerplay, to add 117 in 15 overs between the halfway mark and the 40th over before six wickets went down in the last half-dozen overs as they chased late runs.
Worcestershire’s openers put on 60 before Nick Browne snaffled a leading-edge skier in the covers to dismiss Brett D’Oliveira.
Mohammed, meanwhile, had looked in trouble early on as Shane Snater benefited from the extra grass left on the wicket to gain lift and carry that had the youngster groping outside off-stump. It did not last long as the left-hander took control and reached his maiden half-century in 67 balls. His four sixes were equally distributed between long-off and square leg.
He departed when he misjudged a ball of fuller length from Tom Westley that beat his tentative forward prod and rapped him on the pad.
Kashif and Libby’s second successive century stand was less thrilling than Mohammed’s innings, but with lots of nudging and nurdling they kept the scoreboard ticking along.
Kashif reached his fifty by punching Luc Benkenstein through the covers. However, he had earlier been hit on his right hip, and when he reached 58, called for the aid of a runner. Re-enter Mohammed. Despite his mobility being severely restricted, Kashif still managed to launch his next ball over midwicket for six. His evident discomfort was ended, though, when he lofted Benkenstein to long leg.
Brookes was a whirlwind of hyper-activity with four sixes in his 23-minute fifty, reached with a delicate leg glance for his fifth four. He departed at 297-4 when caught at short third man. The late wickets were largely self-inflicted.
Ben Allison ended his former team-mates’ opening stand of 71 when Matt Critchley stepped aside to give himself room and was bowled. Das reached fifty from 49 balls but next ball was caught just inside the midwicket boundary.
Charlie Allison dug in for a 46-run stand with Westley before he was bowled off his pads by Fateh Singh and Benkenstein’s belligerent 23 from 17 balls was ended when he drove D’Oliveira to extra cover.
Westley also fell stepping away from his wicket against Singh for 43; Simon Fernandes chipped to short midwicket and Noah Thain was caught-and-bowled by Brookes as Essex’s reply spluttered and died.
Men’s Metro Bank One Day Cup Returns This August!
Essex Cricket is set for an exciting summer as the Metro Bank One Day Cup returns this August, bringing four home fixtures at the Ambassador Cruise Line Ground. All home games will be played during the school holidays at Chelmsford, with discounted tickets available when purchased in advance.
Tickets are still available via our Ticket Site, so visit now to to take advantage of your discount and support the Eagles this summer in the 50-over competition.
