Somerset 194-7 (Smeed 52, T Rew 42, Waite 3-39) beat Worcestershire Rapids 116 (Meredith 3-17, Leach 3-20) by 78 runs
Will Smeed blasted a quickfire half-century as revitalised Somerset beat Central and West Group rivals Worcestershire Rapids by 78 runs at Taunton to qualify for the knockout stages of the Vitality Blast.
The in-form opener smashed 52 from 31 balls and shared in a whirlwind stand of 75 with Thomas Rew as Somerset posted 194-7 after being put in on a used pitch at the Cooper Associates Ground.
Australian quick Riley Meredith returned figures of 3-17 and former England spinner Jack Leach took 3-20 to undermine the chase as the Rapids were shot out for 116 in 16 overs despite a defiant knock of 39 from Gareth Roderick.
A fifth win in six games saw the holders move above arch-rivals Gloucestershire on net run rate and finish second in the group behind Northamptonshire, while Worcestershire missed out on a quarter-final berth.
Smeed and Thomas Rew smashed 75 in an action-packed powerplay to force Worcestershire's bowlers onto the back foot.
Adopting a muscular approach, Smeed peppered the boundary on both sides of the wicket, taking Beyers Swanepoel for a huge six over mid-wicket.
Not to be outdone, Rew timed the ball beautifully, twice clearing the leg-side boundary rope in one Matthew Waite over to move ahead in the race to 50.
Somerset's teenage sensation had scored 42 from 19 balls when he misjudged Waite’s slower ball and was bowled.
It took the introduction of leg-spin to slow West Country progress, Usama Mir removing Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Lewis Goldsworthy to finish with 2-28 and restrict the flow of boundaries during the middle overs.
Smeed went to a 29-ball half-century with two sixes and six fours, only to then hit a Taylor full toss to extra cover, while James Rew was pinned lbw by Waite after contributing a valuable 28.
The advent of Lewis Gregory prompted a momentum shift, Somerset's captain raising 28 from 15 deliveries before falling to Allison.
Waite accounted for Daniel Sams to close with 3-39, but not before the home side had posted a competitive total.
Henry Cullen scored 18 from 14 in an opening stand of 35 with Isaac Mohammed, only to be superbly held by a diving Sams at deep backward square as Jake Ball made an early breakthrough. Isaac followed in the next over, skying Meredith to mid-off.
Somerset were in control when Brett D’Oliveira drove Leach’s first ball to long-on with the score 59-3 in the eighth.
Succumbing to Sams, Kashif Ali edged a catch behind, departing in tame fashion as the Rapids further subsided to 80-4 at halfway.
Pace off proved an effective weapon for Somerset, Leach making a mess of Swanepoel’s stumps as the home side turned the screw.
When Leach bowled Roderick with the score 107-6 in the 14th, the game was up.
Somerset head coach Jason Kerr said: "I'm extremely proud of my players.
"At the halfway stage of the campaign, we had won only two out of six and qualification appeared to be beyond us.
"To come back and win four games on the trot is an amazing achievement, and the players deserve a lot of credit.
"Playing Yorkshire away at Headingley in the quarter-finals on Wednesday will be tough, but it will also be exciting.
"We don't play Yorkshire much in this format, and they are an improving white ball team.
"But we have a chance to defend our title and I expect us to embrace the challenge.
"We have played much better during the second half of the campaign, certain key players are now in form and there is a lot of confidence within the group.
"I don't think anyone else out there will relish playing Somerset right now."
Worcestershire head coach Alan Richardson said: "It's really disappointing, because we had given ourselves a good chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals.
"Having come this close, it is disappointing to lose this final game.
"It was a really tough group and we knew that winning here would be hard.
"Somerset scored 73 in the powerplay in their last game here and we knew that part of the game would be tough for us.
"Will Smeed and Thomas Rew played extremely well.
"But we thought high 180s would be a par score and we did well to drag it back to something manageable down the back straight.
"Our powerplay was reasonably good and we felt we had put ourselves in with a chance of chasing 194 over the next 14 overs.
"Unfortunately, things did not go to plan and the game slipped away from us quite quickly after that.
"We know we need to be better if we want to make the knockout stages in future and we will continue to work hard to evolve the team."
