Notts Outlaws slipped out of the Royal London One-Day Cup on a frustrating evening at Trent Bridge as the predicted rains arrived with Worcestershire Rapids ahead on the Duckworth Lewis method.
Set to score 285 to win, the visitors were handily situated on 138 for one when the umpires decided that the conditions had deteriorated too much for play to continue,
Tom Fell, with 63 and Daryl Mitchell, who was on 61, had kept the Notts’ attack at bay in a stand of 130 which was sufficient to see their side through to the quarter finals.
Earlier Notts made 284 for eight, with Samit Patel making 55 and both Riki Wessels and Dan Christian scoring fifties.
Notts selected the same eleven that had played against Leicestershire 24 hours earlier and began the floodlit encounter under leaden skies.
Michael Lumb hit three boundaries during the over couple of overs but fell for 17 in the fifth, edging Kyle Abbott to Tom Kohler-Cadmore at slip.
Wessels and Brendan Taylor worked the bowlers around in adding 50 together but the opportunity to extend their stay into a more substantial partnership was thrown away as Taylor tamely hit Brett D’Oliveira’s leg spin to Ed Barnard at mid on.
Patel survived a run out scare when on three. Had D’Oliveira’s shy hit from point then the batsman would have been well short after attempting a risky single.
Wessels reached his 50 from 67 balls, with seven fours but then fell to his next delivery, hitting the spinner George Rhodes to long on.
Patel and Christian put on 88 for the fourth wicket. One mighty Christian blow was half-stopped by bowler D’Oliveira, causing him to leave the field with a hand injury.
Patel’s 50 came off 57 balls but he too fell soon afterwards, for 55, clipping Barnard to leg. Later in the same over, the 39th, Greg Smith hit his first delivery to point.
Christian became the third to reach his half century, getting there from 52 balls but the expected onslaught was cut short as he fell to Rhodes for 54.
Chris Read made 39 and shared in a punchy stand of 64 with Steven Mullaney, who made 29, as Notts posted a challenging total.
Luke Wood made that total look even more impressive when he bowled Kohler-Cadmore in the opening over; the batsman inside-edging back onto his stumps.
With the gloom descending and the drizzle becoming more and more persistent it was always a race against the clock to get enough overs in to constitute a contest but the umpires kept the play going for as look as possible.
Fell reached his 50 from 53 balls and Mitchell, from 62. A brilliant one-handed attempt from Lumb nearly accounted for Mitchell on 55 but the outcome had practically been decided by that point and they all trooped off shortly afterwards.
Notts miss out on a place in the knock-out stages but still have a home quarter final to look forwards to next Monday in the NatWest T20 Blast, when they face Essex Eagles at Trent Bridge.
Notts Outlaws will face the Essex Eagles in the quarter-final of the NatWest T20 Blast, with a 6.30pm start on Monday 8 August at Trent Bridge, and tickets are on sale now.