The visitors were bowled out for 210 with only Moeen Ali (81) and Daryl Mitchell (64) making any impression. Both fell to Peter Trego (three for 33) and there were two wickets apiece for Craig Overton and Josh Davey.
Under no pressure to score quickly, Jayawadene (117 not out) and Jim Allenby (81) replied with an opening stand of 188 in 33.1 overs, guiding the home side towards victory that was eventually achieved with more than 13 overs to spare.
It was Jayawardene’s first hundred for Somerset, his previous best score since joining the county for the T20 Blast being 55, and the former Sri Lanka captain hit 14 fours and two sixes in a batting masterclass. Allenby gave solid support, hitting 10 fours and a six in his 96-ball innings, as Worcestershire’s bowlers could not find any penetration on the used pitch that had seen their side bowled out inside 43 overs. The captain eventually top‑edged a sweep off Moeen to deep backward square. Trego hit 10 from 12 balls to complete the victory.
It was Somerset’s seventh win in the competition this season, having won the South Group, and their bowlers could take much of the credit. Worcestershire were never able to get much momentum after winning the toss as Overton and Davey, playing in place of the injured Tim Groenewald, produced accurate opening six-over spells, which reduced Worcestershire to 40 for three.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore was brilliantly caught at slip by Jayawardene off Overton, while Davey struck twice in one over, removing Tom Fell to a catch at backward point and Joe Clarke, who chipped tamely to midwicket.
Moeen and Mitchell then put the pitch in perspective with a stand of 113 in 19.4 overs, Moeen continuing his Test match form with an elegant 76-ball innings, which featured 10 fours and a six.
He survived just one run out scare before miscuing a pull shot off Trego and being caught by Max Waller at deep midwicket.
At 175 for four with 17 overs to go, Worcestershire looked reasonably placed. But Mitchell, who had played the perfect supporting role to Moeen with a 67-ball half-century was then well caught above his head by the retreating Davey at mid-off to give Trego his second wicket.
It sparked a collapse, with Ross Whiteley caught behind in the same over and Ben Cox quickly falling to Lewis Gregory. The last hope was Brett D’Oliveira and when he fell to Overton for 21 the innings was in tatters. Joe Leach managed 20 before being run out by Roelof van der Merwe, who wrapped things up by pinning Jack Shantry leg before. There were more than seven overs still available and the total looked 70 below par. So it proved.
They next face Warwickshire, who defeated Essex by 70 runs after Jonathan Trott hit his 20th limited-overs century. He was supported by Laurie Evans and Tim Ambrose as the Bears reached 283 for seven. Trott made 101 from 124 balls with nine fours, Evans hit 70 from 53 balls, containing three fours and three sixes, while Ambrose added a 74-ball 60, containing five fours. Ian Bell made a four-ball duck.
Despite making a promising start to their reply, Essex then slid to 213 all out, succumbing mainly to the spinners who shared the first six wickets, Jeetan Patel taking three for 32 and Josh Poysden three for 46.
Warwickshire chose to bat and began briskly with Trott and Sam Hain adding 41 in 46 balls before the latter, having pulled Graham Napier for six, was bowled next ball. Bell then edged David Masters behind triggering a sequence of 20 balls without a run off the bat.
From that slow start, Trott and Ambrose accelerated to add 136 in 27 overs and, after the latter chipped Napier to mid-wicket, Evans maintained the momentum. He helped add 49 in seven overs with Trott before the one-time England mainstay, his century just greeted by a standing ovation, was stumped off Ashar Zaidi.
Essex, fielding well, fought back as Chris Woakes fired Ryan ten Doeschate to point. The 45th over, from Napier, yielded just a single and the wicket of Rikki Clarke, caught at square leg.
But Evans and Ateeq Javid added 21 in 22 balls to get the score moving again and then, after Javid was caught at long-on, Evans improvised brilliantly in the penultimate over, 14 runs off three balls from Napier including 10 from two reverse-lapped to third man.
The Essex reply was robustly launched by Nick Browne and Tom Westley with a run-a-ball stand of 75. But when Warwickshire turned to tandem spin the switch work spectacularly, six wickets falling in 15 overs.
Browne was stumped for 39 off Javid’s fourth ball, Jesse Ryder’s charge was defeated by Poysden’s turn and Ravi Bopara chopped Patel to point. Jaik Mickleburgh chipped a return catch to Poysden, Zaidi lifted Javid to mid-off and when Poysden trapped Westley leg-before for 61, Essex had slumped from 75 without loss to 134 for six. Ryan Ten Doeschate and James Foster added 33 in seven overs to keep his side in the hunt. But after Foster chipped Clarke to mid-wicket, another slump set in. Ten Doeschate could only deliver a blow or two in vain before falling for 53, lbw to Patel in the last act of the match.
(theguardian.com)
