HEREFORDSHIRE CCC must concentrate on the Minor Counties Championship following their failure to qualify from the group stages of the ECB 38-Counties Cup.

The county had hoped to make progress in the competition, which they won two years ago by beating Cheshire at Lord's.

Having already been knocked out of the C & G Trophy, Herefordshire's only route to cup glory was in ECB 38-Counties Cup.

But their quest to reach the quarter-finals ended with a comprehensive eight-wicket defeat against the Worcestershire Cricket Board at Kidderminster last Sunday.

Former Herefordshire player Nathan Round masterminded Worcestershire's victory, hitting an unbeaten 113 from only 143 deliveries to lead his team home with 13 balls to spare.

Round shared an unbroken third-wicket stand of 181 with Gurdeep Kandola (88 not out) after Mark Horrocks (1-29) and Nick Davies (1-36) had each claimed a wicket.

Herefordshire, who posted a competitive 269-8, were indebted to skipper Chris Boroughs (88 not out) and Paul Lazenbury (87), who added 122 runs for the fourth wicket after they were reduced to 105-3 following the early dismissals of Harshad Patel (2) and Ravi Nagra (8) and then Ismail Dawood (36).

Boroughs collected two sixes and six fours in his 83-ball knock and Lazenbury hit six boundaries as the pair formed the bedrock of Herefordshire's total. All-rounder Nick Davies (24) also contributed towards Herefordshire's innings before he departed with the score at 259-5. J Williams (2-46) and Round (2-61) were Worcester-shire's most successful bowlers.

Despite failing to progress in the ECB 38-Counties Cup, Herefordshire can still have an influence on the competition because Warwickshire Cricket Board will need to secure victory at Brockhampton on July 7 to qualify ahead of Worcestershire on net run rate.

Herefordshire: H Patel c Kandola b Williams 2, P Lazenbury c Manning b Jamshed 87, R Nagra c Kandola b Williams 8, I Dawood c Kandola b Round 36, C Boroughs not out 88, N Davies c Jamshed b Hafeez 24, R Hughes run out 0, A Mason b Round 0, M Horrocks not out 0; extras 24. Total (8 wkts) 269.

Bowling: I Jamshed 9-2-42-1, J Williams 10-0-46-2, A Hafeez 10-2-57-1, J Wright 10-0-44-0, N Round 10-0-61-2, D Manning 1-0-13-0.

Worcestershire CB: D Pipe c and b Horrocks 15, N Round not out 113, A Hafeez b Davies 34, G Kandola not out 88; extras 22. Total (2 kts) 272.

Bowling: S Roberts 10-0-66-0, M Horrocks 4.5-0-29-1, N Davies 9-1-36-1, C Boroughs 4-0-28-0, A Mason 4-0-22-0, P Lazenbury 8-0-41-0, K Preason 8-0-45-0.