Jayawardene century sees Somerset into Cup semi-finals

Friday, 19 August 2016 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Untitled-3 Mahela Jayawardene

AFP: Sri Lanka great Mahela Jayawardene’s first hundred for Somerset saw the south-west side into the semi-finals of English county cricket’s 50-over One-Day Cup as they beat Worcestershire by nine wickets on Wednesday.

Somerset, playing in front of their Taunton home crowd, restricted Worcestershire to 210 with only England all-rounder Moeen Ali (81) and Daryl Mitchell (64) making significant scores.

Both batsmen fell to Peter Trego, who took three for 33.

Former Sri Lanka captain Jayawardene, who retired from international duty last year, made an unbeaten 117 and received good support from Jim Allenby (81) in an opening stand of 188 that helped see Somerset to victory with more than 13 overs left.

Jayawardene, 39, went to his hundred in 99 balls with 13 fours and a six.

Former England batsman Jonathan Trott also made a hundred on Wednesday as Warwickshire beat Essex at Edgbaston in the day’s other quarter-final.

Trott’s 101 was the cornerstone of Warwickshire’s 283 for seven and Essex could only manage 213 in reply, with former New Zealand off-spinner Jeetan Patel taking three for 32.

Kent face Yorkshire and Northamptonshire play Surrey in Thursday’s quarter-finals.