Worcestershire defied the floods that devastated New Road last summer by winning the Friends Provident Trophy first-ivision title without playing a match on their home ground but they could not beat the rain that ended this game after 9.3 overs of the Sussex innings.

If the umpires had allowed them to play on in the rain for three more balls and complete the 10 overs required to constitute a match, they would almost certainly have claimed their first win in the competition this season because Sussex, 52 for two in reply to Worcestershire's 244 for nine, were 11 runs short of their target under the Duckworth/Lewis method.

It was harsh on Worcestershire and particularly Vikram Solanki, their captain, who had followed his 270 against Gloucestershire in the county championship last week with a brilliant 69 off 48 balls including a six and 12 fours to lay the foundation for his side's total.

Steve Davies had set the pace by taking 16 off Robin Martin-Jenkins's second over but when he was caught off Chris Liddle's first ball and Stephen Moore was run out for his fifth duck in six one-day innings Solanki took control, dominating a third-wicket partnership of 72, to which Ben Smith contributed 14.

Solanki was badly dropped by Matt Prior, the Sussex wicketkeeper, off James Kirtley on 22 but the would-be England wicketkeeper made amends by diving low to his right to catch him superbly off Luke Wright.

Prior then held two more catches, a straightforward one to dismiss Smith, another exceptional one, two-handed to his left, to remove Moeen Ali, to give Wright three wickets in 10 balls but Daryl Mitchell's 53 and Gareth Batty's 42 not out left Sussex with a formidable challenge.

They, too, got off to a brisk start, but then Mike Yardy chipped Imran Arif to mid-on and a clever piece of captaincy by Solanki put paid to Prior's hopes of sending the England selectors another powerful reminder of his batting ability.

Prior, who had made 137 in Sussex's only previous trophy game, was on his way again with 22, made up of four fours and a six over extra cover off Kabir Ali that smashed a dressing-room window.

Then Solanki moved Graeme Hick from second slip to short mid-wicket and Prior played his next ball from Kabir on the on side where Hick stuck out his right hand to pull off a stunning catch.

Scoreboard

Worcestershire
*V S Solanki c Prior b Wright 69
S M Davies c Yardy b Liddle 16
S C Moore run out 0
B F Smith c Prior b Wright 15
G A Hick c Hopkinson b Smith 16
M M Ali c Prior b Wright 3
D K H Mitchell b Martin-Jenkins 53
G J Batty not out 42
Kabir Ali b Wright 10
G M Andrew c Goodwin b Kirtley 5
Imran Arif not out 1
Extras (lb 2, w 10, nb 2) 14

Total (9 wkts, 40 overs) 244

Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-32, 3-104, 4-109, 5-113, 6-147, 7-205, 8-231, 9-241.

Bowling: Martin-Jenkins 7-0-55-1; Kirtley 7-0-40-1; Liddle 8-1-34-1; Wright 8-0-56-4; Smith 5-0-25-1; Yardy 5-0-32-0.

Sussex
M H Yardy c Andrew b Arif 16
M J Prior c Hick b Ali 22
L J Wright not out 7
*C J Adams not out 6
Extras (w 1) 1

Total (2 wkts, 9.3 overs) 52

M W Goodwin, D R Smith, C D Hopkinson, R S C Martin-Jenkins, R J Hamilton-Brown, C J Liddle and R J Kirtley did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-43.

Bowling: Arif 5-1-25-1; Kabir Ali 4.3-1-27-1.

Umpires: J H Evans and T E Jesty.