Jacob Bethell holds nerve to see Bears over the road in low-scorer
Birmingham 149 for 8 (Davies 40, Yates 40, Raine 4-30) beat Durham 146 for five (Robinson 54, Turner 53*, Hasan 2-15) by two wickets
Jacob Bethell held his nerve beneath strain within the ultimate over to information Birmingham Bears to a two-wicket victory over Durham in a thriller at Seat Unique Riverside, preserving the guests on high of the Vitality Blast North Group.
The Bears had been miserly with the ball after profitable the toss. Hasan Ali was glorious on the high of the order and picked up figures of 2-15 from his 4 overs, whereas Danny Briggs additionally claimed two strikes. Ollie Robinson and Ashton Turner notched fifties, however Durham’s complete of 146 for five appeared wanting par on the interval.
Alex Davies and Rob Yates led an explosive begin to the Bears’ chase, sharing a gap stand of 80 to place the guests forward of the speed. But, Nathan Sowter continued his spectacular marketing campaign with two wickets to halt the Birmingham cost. Ben Raine then set nerves jangling with two in two within the seventeenth over and he carried out heroics once more with the identical feat within the nineteenth.
The sport turned once more when Bethell held his composure from the ultimate over to smash a six and a 4 in back-to-back balls to steer Birmingham over the one with three balls to spare, edging them nearer to a quarter-final berth.
After Graham Clark scored three early boundaries, Durham’s momentum was halted by shedding each openers inside three balls. Chris Woakes made the breakthrough on his return as Alex Lees was undone by a slower supply earlier than Clark was bowled by Hasan.
Hasan produced a superb spell with the brand new ball, bowling three overs for the price of simply seven runs, limiting the hosts to 29 from the powerplay.
The Bears continued to limit the Durham batting ranks because the run price hovered at slightly below six an over. The strain to attain allowed Briggs to strike in successive deliveries. Michael Jones was caught on the fence by Jake Lintott, who produced a intelligent catch on the rope to stop a most, whereas Brydon Carse fell first ball.
At 60 for 4, the hosts may in poor health afford to lose additional wickets. Robinson and Turner duly responded with a superb partnership price 86 to permit Durham to publish a aggressive complete. Turner discovered his timing in opposition to the Birmingham spinners and raced to his half-century from solely 29 balls with seven fours and slog-sweep six in opposition to Lintott.
Robinson was extra sedate in comparison with his team-mate, however nonetheless introduced up his fourth fifty of the season with an enormous strike over the rope in opposition to Woakes. He tried so as to add one other off the ultimate ball from Hasan, solely to be caught on the relay by Lintott and Ed Barnard.
Birmingham had no problem adjusting to the pitch within the powerplay and made the chase appear simple. Davies and Yates discovered the boundary with ease with out taking dangers, racing to fifty after 4.2 overs. The Bears had been a staggering 37 runs forward of the house facet on the finish of the powerplay, ending the opening six overs 66 with out loss.
Davies and Yates each fell for 40 as Liam Trevaskis and Wayne Parnell prevented the guests from racing away with the chase. On his four-hundredth T20 look, Glenn Maxwell’s try to reverse-sweep Sowter to the rope ended his knock for 14 and the legspinner despatched Dan Mousley on his solution to put the strain on.
Raine arrange a tense finale by matching Briggs’ exploits eradicating Chris Benjamin and Ed Barnard in successive deliveries. The right-armer then carried out related heroics to dismiss Woakes and Hasan with two in two within the nineteenth. But, Bethell dispatched Trevaskis for a six and 4 to information his group to victory within the ultimate over.