Somerset 287 for 9 (Rew 101) beat Worcestersire 251 (Cox 58, Campher 3-51) by 36 runs
The home side posted 287 for 9 after winning the toss, 19-year-old Rew hitting 101 off 93 balls, with eight fours and two sixes, to back up a brilliant season in the LV= Insurance County Championship. Lewis Goldsworthy contributed 47, while Ben Gibbon overcame a nightmare start to claim 3 for 58.
The game got off to an eventful opening when Somerset raced to 22 off the first over, sent down by left-arm seamer Gibbon. George Thomas flayed three boundaries, with six wides and four leg-byes also contributing to the total.
There were already 31 runs on the board when Thomas fell to the final delivery of the second over, caught behind pushing forward to Leach.
Andy Umeed and Goldsworthy took the score to 96 in the 18th over before Umeed edged a leg-side delivery from Cameron Jones through to Cox and departed for 34.
Goldsworthy had swept a six off Josh Baker, but he and Rew were largely content to milk ones and twos, laying the foundation for a large total. The pair had advanced the score to 147 when Goldsworthy attempted to cut a ball from Brett D’Oliveira that was too close to him and got an edge through to Cox.
By then, Rew was well set, scoring prolifically through the leg side and making good use of the reverse sweep. He moved to fifty off 52 balls and was joined by skipper Sean Dickson in another fruitful partnership.
Dickson launched two big sixes, the first off one of two no-ball free hits conceded by Worcestershire for violating fielding restrictions, on his way to a valuable 37 off 40 balls.
Rew was steadily accumulating while occasionally cutting loose. George Bartlett and Campher fell cheaply before the young wicketkeeper reached another landmark in an already memorable season, striking his eighth four to move to a 91-ball hundred.
After adding a single, Rew was caught at deep backward square off Gibbon to leave Somerset 274 for seven with 13 balls of their innings remaining. They lost two more wickets and Worcestershire could feel relieved to keep the score below 300.
The visitors then lost three of their top order inside 12 overs, Azhar Ali getting an inside edge onto his stumps off Ned Leonard, who then had D’Oliveira well caught by Shoaib Bashir at deep backward square.
When Jake Libby was brilliantly caught by Rew, one-handed diving to his right, off Lamb, Worcestershire were 75 for 3. But Jones was going well and shouldered major responsibility for his side’s fortunes.
Somerset knew they needed more wickets. They were gifted one when Kashif Ali called for a quick single to mid-wicket and Jones failed to beat Goldsworthy’s left-arm direct hit at the wicketkeeper’s end.
Kashif was caught and bowled by Jack Brooks, who had dropped him the previous over. But Cox and Leach then put together a sensibly paced stand of 73 in 13 overs.
Cox moved to a 56-ball fifty and Worcestershire were within 55 of victory when he top-edged a short ball from Campher to Goldsworthy at mid-wicket. It signalled a collapse with Josh Baker caught at cover in the same over.
Leach had begun to free his arms, hitting a six and 4 fours. But when he was trapped lbw by Goldsworthy’s left-arm spin, the Rapids had lost three wickets on the same score and were 232 for eight. They never recovered.