HAMPSHIRE will face Somerset in the Royal London One-Day Cup final on May 25.

The holders will return to headquarters a week on Saturday after beating a Lancashire side including James Anderson by four wickets, with an over to spare, at The Ageas Bowl.

Rilee Rossouw, who scored 125 in last year’s final, made 85 in a fourth-wicket stand of 122 with James Vince (79) after Gareth Berg's maiden five-wicket haul in limited-overs cricket and Mason Crane’s brilliant 3-42.

Berg (5-26) sliced through the tail, while leg-spinner Crane appeared back to his best as Lancashire were restricted to 241.

The visitors beat Middlesex in a play-off thriller on Friday night, but were this was their ninth straight List A semi-final defeat, while Hampshire are on course to retain their title.

Saqib Mahmood struck with the fifth ball of Hampshire’s reply when he found Tom Alsop's inside edge.

The fast bowler followed it up with two more wickets; Aneurin Donald slashed to point and Sam Northeast chopped on to leave Hampshire 23-3.

Mahmood finished his six-over opening spell with 3-20, 48 hours after his 3-15 against Middlesex.

But Vince responded with a pair of delightful square drives and a pull as he dug Hampshire out of the mire with a 55-ball half century.

Hampshire's captain, who was released by the ECB to play, guided Rossouw through a sticky start before the South African reached a 69-ball fifty with back-to-back boundaries off James Anderson; a sumptuous straight drive and then a powerful pull.

The stand was ended when Vince was run out by a sharp piece of fielding from Steven Croft at cover.

But Rossouw continued to slide through the gears, while Liam Dawson found important boundaries at the other end in a 59-run collaboration.

Dawson was dropped on 26 by Matt Parkinson but didn’t capitalise as he skied soon after.

Rossouw was then bowled off his pads – but Hampshire made it back to Lord’s when James Fuller scored the winning runs with six balls to spare.

Earlier, Lancashire won the toss and elected to bat first on the same wicket on which England and Pakistan shared 734 runs 24 hours earlier.

Keaton Jennings and Liam Livingstone put on 37 for the first wicket before the latter was bounced out by Fidel Edwards – with Crane taking a simple catch on the square-leg boundary.

Alsop once again displayed his burgeoning wicketkeeping skills with a stunning full-length dive to catch Croft; he now has the most dismissals in the competition, with 13 catches and five stumpings.

Jennings and Jake Lehmann rebuilt again with a 67-run stand, which saw the England opener move to a 56-ball half-century.

But Crane soon bowled Jennings before Dane Villas slapped him to Vince at extra-cover.

Having reached a 53-ball 50, Lehmann slog-swept Dawson to Fuller on the deep mid-wicket boundary.

From that point Hampshire took control, stifling Rob Jones (38 from 62 balls) before he slogged Crane to long-on.

Berg cleared up the tail, seeing off Josh Bohannon and Graham Onions within four balls before bowling Anderson and having Mahmood caught by Vince.

Berg said: How good is that! “It has taken me 12 years to get to a [limited-overs]five-wicket haul but things all worked out today.

“We are over the moon, the job is almost done and whatever happens on that day happens.

A week after losing by seven wickets to Hampshire at Taunton, Somerset reached the final by beating Nottinghamshire by 115 runs at Trent Bridge.

“Hopefully Somerset are scarred from our game the other day," added Berg.