STEVE Rhodes declared his Worcestershire Royals side were at the top of their game as they crushed Yorkshire Carnegie by 41 runs at a sun-drenched New Road.

Having seen three of their previous four Friends Life t20 matches washed out at headquarters, the Royals put on a fine display to bounce back from their 19-run defeat at Leicestershire Foxes and maintain their charge for a quarter-final place.

A Twenty20 bowling best for Shakib Al Hasan of 4-31 and half-centuries from Alexei Kervezee and James Cameron set up the fine win yesterday.

“At Leicestershire we were a little bit below-par and we made up for it against a very good Yorkshire side,” director of cricket Rhodes said.

“We knew they would be tough to beat but we were on our ‘A’ game.

“The way we set that score was just about as perfect as you can get in 20-over cricket.

“We had a really good start from Moeen Ali, who I thought was tremendous.

“He got 32 against Leicestershire and 136 against Sri Lanka before that, so he is in a rich vein of form and it is nice to see Moeen hit the ball cleanly.

“But, for me, the partnership from Alexei and James was the most exciting bit.”

Having racked up 183-7 in their 20 overs, the Royals dismissed their visitors for 142 as Worcestershire fielded their four spinners, Shakib, Saeed Ajmal, Moeen and Shaaiq Choudhry, for the first time.

“We played really well with the ball,” Rhodes said. “We have got some good spinners now.

“Shakib’s four-wicket haul was tremendous and Saeed bowled beautifully.

“But Moeen and Shaaiq played their part too. It was a good performance on our own pitch against a very good side.”

Rhodes also praised the pitch as it allowed the ball to come on to the bat well, while the bounce in the wicket gave his spinners extra assistance.

“It was the four-day pitch we used in the Hampshire win,” the County boss added.

“It was only graded as good by the umpires but I thought it was very good.

“It proved that it was still in good condition and you can play 20-over cricket on it.”

Worcestershire moved back into fourth place in the North group following the Yorkshire success.

They head to Milton Keynes on Wednesday (5.30pm) to face Northamptonshire Steelbacks as they look to push for a top-two finish and a home quarter-final tie.