CAPTAIN Daryl Mitchell admits he feels sympathy for Durham Jets after Worcestershire Rapids pipped them on nett run-rate to reach the quarter-finals of the Royal London One-Day Cup.

Tom Fell (63 not out) and Mitchell (61 not out) guided Worcestershire to a nine-wicket win under the Duckworth-Lewis method against Notts Outlaws at Trent Bridge on Monday.

With Durham’s game rained off at Lancashire, Worcestershire knocked the Jets out of the fourth and final qualification spot in the north group after both sides finished with nine points.

“After the disappointment of not getting to the knockout stages in the NatWest T20 Blast, reaching the quarter-finals in the 50-over format helps to make up for it a bit,” said Mitchell.

“The top five sides in the north group all finished on nine points and you have to feel sorry for Durham, massively, who missed out on nett run-rate.

“In all of the previous years, nine points would have been enough to have got through the group and into the quarter-finals, so you have to feel sorry for Durham.”

Worcestershire had also beaten Lancashire in a must-win game at New Road on Sunday and will now travel to either Somerset or Essex in the last-eight on August 17 or 18.

Mitchell said: “We had two really big performances against Lancashire and Notts.

“Against Lancashire, Tom Fell’s century was the most important innings and the bowlers did well with the ball at Notts to restrict them to a gettable total.

“It was a big performance at Trent Bridge, particularly after the setback of losing Tom Kohler-Cadmore in the first over of our innings.

“With the rain expected, we knew we had to get above the Duckworth-Lewis rate and we managed to put a good second-wicket partnership together to achieve it.”