Jason Roy and Gareth Batty star in Surrey victory in Royal London Cup semi final

England opener Jason Roy might have had a disappointing couple of months on the circuit, but he showed positive signs of recovery with a brilliant 92 against Worcestershire. Roy set up a daunting total of 363 for his side Surrey, which ensured that they eased into the final of the Royal London One-Day Cup.

Worcestershire would have fancied scaling the massive target in the second semi-final, especially after Nottinghamshire made short work of Essex’s record List-A total just the previous day. Gareth Batty, however, ensured there wasn’t a run fest in both innings as he restricted hosts Worcestershire to a mere 210. Surrey thus set up a date with Nottinghamshire in the final of the tournament.

Jason Roy shines at the top

Surrey understandably opted to bat first on a batting paradise, but their only concern was Roy’s form at the top. After a watchful start, the opener shut his critics with an assault. He fell agonisingly short of what would have been a sparkling century but lapped up the applause as he walked back to the dressing room.

Kumar Sangakkara, who’d been incessantly churning up runs, was at it again. He guided Surrey to 179 at the halfway mark of the innings, and Worcestershire were already looking at a total in excess of 300. Two wickets in quick succession gave the hosts a ray of hope of restricting Surrey to a less alarming total.

Ben Foakes does the damage for Surrey

Foakes then took centre stage to rub salt into the wounds of the Worcestershire bowlers. His 70-ball assault consisted of eight fours and two sixes, and by the time he fell, Surrey already had 353 on the board. Tom Curran provided the finishing touches with two consecutive boundaries.

Although the script had an uncanny resemblance with the Nottinghamshire-Essex clash at the innings break, Surrey had something different planned for the opposition batsmen. Sam Curran struck upfront to remove Daryl Mitchell without troubling the scorers. Once Moeen Ali fell, the scorecard reading 42/3, Worcestershire had already spiralled into deep trouble.

Brett D’Oliveira and Ross Whiteley offered a hint of resistance with scores of 50. However, they received little support from the rest, and wickets fell more often than they would have liked. Gareth Batty then stepped up for Surrey and ripped through the Worcestershire middle and lower order. Surrey wrapped things up in the 34th over to hand the hosts a thumping 153-run defeat.