Batting first on a sumptuous day at Eastnor Cricket Club, openers Dan Lategan and Isaac Mohammed made their way to the middle looking to set the tone against Minor County opponents Herefordshire.
The teenage duo made a fast start, going at almost ten an over in the early exchanges, before losing Isaac LBW for eight in the fourth over of the day.
Showing no signs of slowing after the early breakthrough, Lategan showed his ruthless attacking edge alongside new partner Kashif Ali, as the Rapids pair found the boundary with relative ease.
Crashing the ball to the boundary in clinical fashion, Lategan hit his straps, with Kashif playing an equally positive hand at the other end, with Worcestershire racing to 100 in the 15th over of the contest.
The relative ease with which the pair were playing saw last year’s One Day Cup breakthrough batter Lategan chalk up his fifty, before Kashif was taken by surprise when he was bowled for 37 having previously been untroubled.
Keen to pick up where he left off in List A cricket from last summer, competition Captain Jake Libby strode to the crease eager to capitalise on the favourable conditions.
Enjoying a lavish tournament in 2025, Libby averaged an astonishing 59.87 and wasted no time in settling back into rhythm against a fatiguing Herefordshire attack who battled valiantly in the sun.
Playing in particularly brutal fashion down the ground, Lategan slammed two drives for four back over the bowlers’ head before turning a full ball into the legside for a single, which took him to a fine century that came at better than a run-a-ball.
Swiftly followed by his skipper, who eased his way to fifty, the pair put their foot down and began to shift through the gears in an enterprising partnership.
The pair made 161 for the third wicket, before Libby came unstuck 19-runs short of a well-deserved ton, caught at long on for a fluent 68-ball-81 that included seven fours and a six.
261-3 soon became 287-4 when Lategan’s remarkable cameo was finally brought to a close, with the opener misjudging an inventive reverse sweep that saw him bowled by Ben Chapman-Lilley for 148.
Leaving to a warm applause from the hospitable home crowd, the South-African had displayed all of his class during a sublime knock, with new pair Henry Cullen and Rehaan Edavalath looking to propel the visitors to a score upwards of 350.