Joe Leach: Pears hurting after loss

Jason Roy recaptured his form with a vengeance as Surrey overwhelmed the Pears by 153 runs to reach the final for a third consecutive year.

Roy top-scored with 92 as Surrey amassed 363-7 in their 50 overs after electing to bat at New Road. It was in sharp contrast to his struggles in recent weeks with England which culminated in him being axed from the Champions Trophy semi-final setback against Pakistan at Cardiff.

Roy received excellent support from Mark Stoneman, Kumar Sangakkara and Ben Foakes as Surrey posted a total which always looked beyond Worcestershire.

Then captain Gareth Batty capped a successful return to his former county with 5-40 – his best List A figures for the Brown Caps. Moeen Ali briefly threatened to repeat the performance of England team-mate Roy but, once he had departed for 36, only Brett D’Oliveira and Ross Whiteley offered much resistance with half centuries as the hosts were dismissed for 210 in the 34th over.

Leach said: “It’s pretty raw at the moment, it obviously hurts a lot, having topped the group and played the way we did. We got beat by a very good Surrey side.

“As a side we are going to take knockbacks – this is one of them – but hopefully we draw a line under it and move on.”

Now Surrey will be hoping to make it third time lucky at Lord’s against Nottinghamshire Outlaws after losing the 2015 and 2016 finals to Gloucestershire and Warwickshire respectively.