WORCESTERSHIRE'S bowlers were made to work hard in their T20 Blast game against Gloucestershire at New Road.

The Rapids were asked to bowl first having lost the toss and struggled as Gloucestershire made a powerful start, reaching 82-0 in the eighth over of the game.

Chris Dent made 60 from 33 balls while his opening partner Miles Hammond made 48 from 38.

The Worcestershire bowlers struggled throughout with Dillon Pennington, Pat Brown, Ed Barnard and Brett D'Oliveira all going at more than nine runs per over.

Pennington eventually pegged Gloucestershire back, picking up the wickets of Hammond and Cockbain to pull the score back to 139-3.

The big hitters kept coming however, as Ryan Higgins and Jack Taylor kept the runs flowing, leaving Gloucestershire on an imposing 197-3.

Worcestershire's bowling figures did not make for nice reading, with Daryl Mitchell returning with 0-33 from his four overs, Pennington with 2-27 from his four, Pat Brown with 0-57 from his four and Ed Barnard bringing in 0-39.

Brett D'Oliveira picked up 1-36 from his four in what was a chastening first innings for the Rapids.

Worcestershire raced out of the blocks in reply with Riki Wessels and Hamish Rutherford hitting a few early boundaries.

Rutherford was dismissed by David Payne for 30 from 14 balls before Jack Haynes joined in the action.

Haynes and Wessels continued to score quickly, reaching 81-1 at the end of the first six overs.

Both batsmen departed in quick succession though, Haynes at 89-2 for 23 and Wessels at 91-3 on 30, leaving Jake Libby and Brett D'Oliveira the platform to finish the innings with.

The pair brought the hundred up at the end of the 10th over, which saw the Rapids move on to 100-3.

Libby then fell for 12 leaving the innings running out of steam at 124-4 in the 14th over with Ross Whiteley on his way out to the middle.

The wickets kept coming though, with D'Oliveira dismissed for 26 and Ben Cox following shortly after for just 4.

Ed Barnard then fell for 10 leaving the Rapids with 35 to win from the final over.

Ross Whiteley was run out for 25 and Daryl Mitchell and Dillon Pennington were unable to hit the remaining runs from what left of the game, leaving the Rapids 22 runs short and without a win in this summer's T20 Blast.