One-Day Cup: Worcestershire beat Warwickshire by one wicket to reach semi-finals

Moeen Ali's hundred was the second-quickest century in this season's One-Day Cup

Worcestershire survived a late wobble to beat Warwickshire by one wicket at Edgbaston and reach the last four of the One-Day Cup in dramatic fashion.

The Bears' defeat saw them eliminated.

England all-rounder Moeen Ali took 3-40 in Warwickshire's 292-7 and then hit a 64-ball century on his way to 114 to put the Pears on the brink of victory.

But they collapsed horribly from 272-5 to 288-9 and it took two fours from Ed Barnard, the first courtesy of a Keith Barker slip, to see the visitors home.

A tie would have sent Worcestershire through and knocked Warwickshire out and, with five runs needed for victory, number eight Barnard guided a Will Rhodes delivery down to third man.

Barker was set to make a regulation stop, but slipped on the wet turf at the vital moment and the ball dribbled through for a boundary that secured the visitors' qualification.

Moeen sees Worcestershire through

Wins for Notts and Yorkshire meant this match became a winner-takes-all affair and Warwickshire old boy Moeen's efforts with bat and ball proved to be the difference between the two neighbours.

Moeen, who had a long spell captaining in the field while Joe Leach was off with a back injury, helped to reduce the hosts to 126-5 and it took a Warwickshire limited-over record sixth-wicket stand of 133 between Tim Ambrose (75) and Rhodes (69) to set a challenging target.

England hopeful Joe Clarke was then dismissed with the first ball of Worcestershire's reply, caught behind nibbling down legside, but Moeen's aggressive approach from the outset put them in the driving seat.

Olly Stone (4-71) was on the wrong end of some big hitting from Moeen but the pace bowler eventually took his wicket - almost two years to the day since he sustained a serious knee injury while celebrating the dismissal of the England man while playing for Northants.

The visitors looked to be cruising towards victory when Ben Cox (80) was going well with Ross Whiteley (47) but, with just 21 needed off 11 overs, Whiteley's dismissal began a flurry of wickets that almost cost the Pears a spot in the last four.

Barker had taken the ninth wicket to fall, putting his side within one wicket of the semi-finals, but his unfortunate slip ensured Worcestershire would progress instead.

Worcestershire will now play the winners of the quarter-final between holders Nottinghamshire and Kent at New Road on Sunday 16 June.

The final is at Lord's on 30 June.

Warwickshire captain Jeetan Patel told BBC WM:

"To make so many strides in white ball cricket and lose two games and not go through is disappointing.

"But, I'm not about excuses - we had a one-off game to go through, a quarter-final if you like and we didn't win and that's just the way cricket goes.

"Almost 300 is always a score, but the way they came out and how we couldn't break key partnerships to make the game go our way was the difference.

"There's some areas that we want to keep getting better at and going into the T20 Blast later in the summer, that's what we'll work on."

Worcestershire captain Joe Leach told BBC Hereford & Worcester:

"We are delighted to win and we're over the moon to have finished top of the group. It gives us a home semi-final for the second year running.

"It was tense at the end but Ed Barnard played with a lot of composure to see us through.

"Moeen's innings was first-rate. It was the sort of game in which you look to your international players to stand up and perform and he did that.

"We have played some very good 50-over cricket over the last two years. Now we will go into the semi, whether it's against Nottinghamshire or Kent, confident and ready to give them a good game."