BEN Cox and Pat Brown complemented a true captain's display from Moeen Ali as Worcestershire rescued a place in the T20 Blast final against Lancashire.

When Moeen (41) went at 70 for two, a team hat-trick was completed with the dismissals of Brett D'Oliveira and Tom Fell to leave the Rapids reeling on 97 for six. 

Cox (55*) and Ed Barnard (28*) provided the shot in the arm just at the right time with 72 thrashed off 38 balls to turn the tide at Edgbaston.

Cox proved the cornerstone of the innings, finding the boundary six times from 34 deliveries to give his side a fighting chance at 169 for six.

Lancashire then had to prise runs from Moeen (2-16), while emerging talent Brown (4-21) bowled 14 dots while closing in on the record number of wickets for a T20 season held by Alfonso Thomas, who notched 33 for Somerset during 2010.

After Moeen had seen off Test team-mate Jos Buttler in a superb spell of Twenty20 spin bowling, Keaton Jennings played a solid anchoring knock of 51 not out but his Red Rose colleagues under-delivered in their reply.

The 30 off the last two overs was just about manageable until Brown's stunning intervention, which accounted for James Faulkner, Toby Lester and Matt Parkinson while giving away just one single.

SEMI-FINAL: Worcestershire win by 20 runs

RAPIDS 169-6: Clarke 5, Moeen 41, Fell 23, D'Oliveira 0, Cox 55*, Whiteley 4, Mitchell 6, Barnard 28*. Extras: 7.

Parkinson (2-23), Faulkner (1-8), Khan (1-24), Clark (1-27), Lester (0-53), Jennings (0-8), Livingstone (0-23)

LIGHTNING 149-9: Davies 9, Livingstone 30, Lilley 23, Buttler 12, Jennings 51*, Vilas 13, Clark 3, Faulkner 2, Lester 0, Parkinson 0, Khan 1*. Extras 5.

Brown (4-21), Moeen (2-16), Barnard (1-34), Wood (0-11), Parnell (0-36), D'Oliveira (0-16), Mitchell (0-13)