SAEED Ajmal’s stunning treble wicket maiden almost stole the show from 17-year-old Aneesh Kapil’s brilliant bowling display as Worcestershire Royals claimed a six-wicket win in the Friends Life t20 at Northamptonshire Steelbacks.

Opener Vikram Solanki also carried his bat for an unbeaten 62 as he shared a superb 85-run partnership with captain Daryl Mitchell to steer the County home with three balls to spare after they had fallen to 45-4 in the eighth over.

Pakistan off-spinner Ajmal took three wickets in the final over of the hosts’ innings to restrict them to 129-9 as he finished with 4-14 from his four overs at Campbell Park, Milton Keynes.

But the Royals had been inspired by ‘A’ level student Kapil, as his fast bowling yielded 3-9 from his four overs, after a rapid start from Rob White for the Steelbacks.

Having opted against playing four spinners, Steve Rhodes recalled Kapil in place of Shaaiq Choudhry as the Royals looked to cement their place in the top four of the North group.

But, after being put in the field, Worcestershire were on the back foot as White dominated the strike.

The Steelbacks were 30-0 in the fourth over when Gareth Andrew dismissed Bilal Shafayat without scoring before Kapil was brought into the attack four overs later.

The teenage all-rounder, named man-of-the-match, got the dangerous White (33) to find James Cameron at cover but it was Kapil’s third over that did the damage.

First, Niall O’Brien hit him down the ground only to find Solanki waiting with open arms on the long-off boundary, before Alex Wakely went for a big swing four balls later and Ben Scott took the catch behind the stumps to leave the hosts 80-4 in the 12th.

Former Worcestershire all-rounder Andrew Hall became Ajmal’s first victim after he was trapped lbw without scoring, before the spinner’s stunning final over accounted for Newton (22), Steven Peters and David Lucas — both caught and bowled without scoring.

Having been set 130 to win, the Royals were reduced to 34-3 in the seventh over after Moeen Ali, Alexei Kervezee and Shakib Al Hasan all went cheaply.

When Cameron went for four to leave the County 45-4, Worcestershire were in desperate need of a partnership.

They got that from Solanki and skipper Mitchell as they rotated the strike nicely to keep the Royals in the match.

Coming together in the eighth over, the pair saw out the remainder of the contest to move the Royals up to third in the group.