Stephen Moore returned to haunt his former county by hitting an undefeated century in Lancashire Lightning's crushing nine-wicket win over Worcestershire Royals in the Clydesdale Bank 40 match at New Road.
The 29-year-old made 105 not out and put on an unbeaten 191 in 31 overs with Paul Horton, who made an undefeated 78. Their combined efforts enabled Lancashire to easily reach their 209-run victory target with 5.3 overs to spare.
It was their second Group A win of the season which leaves Worcestershire firmly anchored at the foot of the table following four successive defeats. Moore, making his first appearance at New Road following his close season switch to Old Trafford, cracked two sixes and 12 fours off 97 balls while Horton struck one six and seven fours off 92 deliveries.
Struggling Worcestershire, after winning the toss, had made 208 for 8 with paceman Sajid Mahmood taking four wickets for 40 runs. Their top scorer with 45 was Vikram Solanki who eventually became the first one-day scalp in five years for Mark Chilton after collecting one six and three fours off 65 balls.
After his fellow opener Phil Jaques had top-edged a Mahmood delivery to wicketkeeper Luke Sutton, the New Road skipper added 62 in 12 overs with Moeen Ali.
The partnership ended when Moeen, preparing for his England Lions appearance against Bangladesh at Derby this week, got in a tangle trying to reverse sweep Stephen Parry and was bowled for 31.
Solanki then missed a straight delivery from Chilton before Alexei Kervezee became a second Parry victim for 28. Ben Smith chopped on a Tom Smith delivery before Daryl Mitchell and James Cameron added a useful 38 in seven overs before Mitchell had his leg stump knocked back by Mahmood.
Lively Mahmood also accounted for Gareth Andrew in the same over before removing Cameron for 41 to register his best competitive one-day figures since June 2004.
Moore soon had the chance to frustrate his former team-mates when Smith was run out by a fine direct throw from deep square leg by Moeen. The opener's departure paved the way for Horton and Moore to stamp their authority on the one-sided match with a partnership which never seriously troubled the New Road attack.
Horton reached his 50 with one six and five fours off 54 balls while Moore soon reached the landmark with one six and two fours off 66 deliveries.
2.5 length outside off, Valli was too lazy moving his bat away, got the faint edge through to keeper 0/1
51.2 playing off the front foot trying to work it onto the on side, misses the ball and is given out lbw 183/6
2.3 playing off the front foot off the outside edge and taken at head height by Pongolo at third slip 13/1
81.4 outside off stump, batsman tries to leave the ball but unfortunately gets a bottom edge and through to the keeper 269/8
89.1 yorker, batsman fails to keep that out and is hit on the foot, huge appeal for lbw given 302/10
77.5 playing off the front foot off the outside edge and good low catch taken by Thomson at slip 231/4
South Africa made a mess of what should have been a comfortable chase of a below-par total at Wanderers, stumbling in the batting Powerplay and then sinking to a dispiriting defeat in a thrilling finish. In conditions less favourable for batting than what the venue has offered in the past, Graeme Smith had put South Africa on course with a positive innings but his wicket in the 33rd over triggered a collapse that was a product of panic, ill-luck and some needling Indian bowling. Munaf Patel's spell proved decisive as he dislodged Smith and ended the South African innings with two wickets in the 43rd over, when the hosts were just a shot away from victory.
The game was still South Africa's when Munaf began bowling the 43rd over. Four runs were needed with two wickets in hand but what clinched the game for India were two short-of-a-length deliveries that the tailenders, Morne Morkel and Wayne Parnell, who had batted calmly until then, felt were too good to resist. With three needed for victory, Morkel slashed one straight to the substitute fielder Yusuf Pathan at point and, off the last ball of the over, Parnell, keen to finish off the game, cut Munaf to Yuvraj Singh, sparking wild celebrations in the Indian camp while leaving South Africa shell-shocked at their sudden capitulation.
The result had seemed unlikely with Smith's assured presence at the crease. He had been ruthless in his treatment of the bad balls, which the Indians doled out more often than their opponents had earlier in the day, and had eased the pressure despite periodic breakthroughs at the other end. Munaf was punished for consecutive boundaries through mid-off and point, while Zaheer Khan was pulled through midwicket when he pitched short. Initially a little rusty against Harbhajan Singh, Smith stepped out to the offspinner to combat the turn and take the ball off a length. He kept threading the gaps in the outfield to squeeze boundaries off the seamers and went past 6000 runs in ODIs.
Smith's shaky yet productive stand with Colin Ingram, a fluent partnership with JP Duminy and an increasingly threatening association with David Miller had continued the one-way traffic set up by South Africa's bowlers. But at 152 for 4, in the second over of the batting Powerplay, a reversal began.
South Africa's bowlers had exploited the movement off the pitch in restraining India, and Munaf had managed to prise out the wicket of Hashim Amla with a delivery that nipped back in. In the 33rd over, he managed to dart one back in from outside off towards Smith, who played on. In the next over, after he had been flicked to the fine-leg boundary, Zaheer shortened his length and dismissed Miller with an offcutter that the batsman failed to pull and gloved to short fine leg. And when he returned in the 36th over, Zaheer was fortunate to dismiss Johan Botha, who was given out lbw playing back to a good-length delivery, when it seemed the ball had only made contact with the outer half of the bat, not with the pad.
Parnell calmed the nerves of a capacity Wanderers crowd with a square-cut boundary and a promising vigil with Dale Steyn. But Steyn's attempt to risk a single and retain strike for the 39th over resulted in a run-out when Yuvraj barely managed to break the stumps before the ball slipped out of his hands. From 177 for 8, Parnell and Morkel braved a determined spell from Zaheer, managed a streaky boundary off part-time offspinner Suresh Raina and took South Africa to within four runs of a 2-0 lead. Only to throw it all away in the next over from Munaf.
South Africa's bowlers may have unable to finish the job with the bat but they had impressed with disciplined bowling performance under overcast skies on a slowish track. India approached their innings cautiously and, using the movement, South Africa's bowlers capitalised on their circumspection. Lonwabo Tsotsobe was the best. His role in ODIs has largely been a containing one but his accuracy amid India's pressure to accelerate earned him his best match haul of 4 for 22. India, too, faltered in their batting Powerplay, losing four wickets for 14 runs to undermine what Yuvraj and Dhoni had achieved during their fighting recovery stand.
The pair had to build from scratch following the wickets of Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli in quick succession. Displaying little signs of getting bogged down, neither batsman felt compelled to take undue risks and instead ensured a steady scoring-rate by working the field. Both used the sweep and the paddle, while Yuvraj often drove straight to pinch twos because long-on that was wider than usual. Bad balls were a rarity but Yuvraj was prompt to punish them when on offer: he slashed Morkel over point and glanced Tsotsobe to the fine-leg boundary to raise his half-century. The stand was worth 83 and with 13 more overs to go, a score of 240 was on. India didn't get that far, though given the manic developments towards the end, they didn't need to.