MOEEN Ali let his cricket do the talking as the England all-rounder led Worcestershire into the Vitality Blast final with an impressive 20-run defeat of Lancashire.

Moeen hit the headlines overnight when the serialisation of his new autobiography revealed his claim that an unnamed Australia player had called him "Osama" during the 2015 Ashes.

There were no concerns about his focus at a sold-out Edgbaston, though, as he struck 41 in the first semi-final and then dismissed Test team-mate Jos Buttler in a superb spell of Twenty20 spin bowling.

Worcestershire, first-timers at this stage of the tournament, posted 169-6 after being asked to bat first then kept Lancashire to 149-9.

Moeen finished with 2-16 from his allocation, while 19-year-old seamer Pat Brown guaranteed victory with three wickets for one run in the penultimate over and figures of 4-21.

Keaton Jennings played a solid anchoring knock of 51 not out but his Red Rose colleagues under-delivered in their reply.

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

Moeen gave Worcestershire a lively start, finding his timing instantly and taking a liking to fellow skipper Liam Livingstone, whose solitary over shipped 23.

Moeen was striking at almost two a ball leading his side to 70-1 inside eight overs, but his departure was the first instalment in an unlikely sequence of three wickets in as many balls.

Zahir Khan was the bowler, drawing a mis-timed skier to long-off.

New man Brett D'Oliveira was run out without facing as a dicey single went wrong and the team hat-trick was completed with Tom Fell's stumping off Parkinson.

The Lancashire wrist-spinners, Zahir and Parkinson, excelled with combined figures of 8-0-47-3 and just three boundaries off them.

Worcestershire looked lost at 97-6 only for Ben Cox and Ed Barnard to add an unbroken partnership of 72.

Cox did the bulk of the lifting en route to 55 not out in 34 balls, unloading three sixes and a reverse-swept four as the penultimate over from Lester leaked 27.