STEVEN Davies hit a maiden List ‘A’ ton as Worcestershire Royals comfortably picked up their first Nat-West Pro40 victory at Lancashire Lightning in a rain-reduced match.

The 21-year-old wicketkeeper was in fine form as he raced away to his century, his first in all forms of cricket this season, coming off just 83 balls.

Smashing three sixes and 12 fours, the last coming from the final delivery to get him to his 103, as the Royals set the Old Trafford side 189 to win off 25 overs.

Heavy rain overnight and during the day in Manchester put the game in doubt, but the weather relented and the umpires reduced the game by 15 overs per side.

Having lost the toss and being put in, the Royals went after some poor Lancashire bowling in an innings that was dominated by Davies’ sublime knock. He and Worcestershire skipper Vikram Solanki got the visitors off to a fine start before Solanki went for 28 as seamer Tom Smith made the breakthrough.

Stephen Moore ended a sequence of three List ‘A’ ducks but his 12 was shaky before he was stumped by Gareth Cross off the economical Gary Keedy.

Matt Mason got the Royals off to the perfect start with the ball as Lou Vincent went for a duck at the end of the first over caught by Solanki and then Gareth Andrew bowled Paul Horton for 12 with his second delivery of the match.

Imran Arif and Daryl Mitchell left the Lightning’s reply in trouble by the end of seventh as Mal Loye and Gareth Cross went leaving Lancashire on 28-4.

The Royals continued to turn the screw, in an attack without Simon Jones or Kabir Ali. They took wickets at regular intervals as Lancashire struggled to deal with the high run-rate set by Worcestershire.

Gareth Batty starred with three wickets as the Royals eased to a comfortable 105-run winning margin with 46 balls to spare.