All-round Mousley drives Bears into Blast quarter-finals
Birmingham Bears 228 for 4 (Yates 59, Mousley 51) beat Worcestershire 175 for 9 (Santner 56, Mousley 4-41) by 53 runs
Birmingham Bears secured a spot within the Vitality Blast quarter-finals with a thumping 53-run victory over arch-rivals Worcestershire Rapids at Edgbaston.
Put in, the Bears began strongly and by no means misplaced momentum as they totalled 228 for 4 due to half-centuries from Rob Yates and Dan Mousley and Glenn Maxwell‘s 20-ball 44.
Mousley then continued his good Blast by including 4 for 41 to his half-century because the Rapids totalled 175 for 9, Mitchell Santner top-scoring with 56 from No. 3.
One extra win from their final two video games will safe Bears a house tie within the final eight whereas, although the defeat is a setback for Rapids, they continue to be within the thick of the qualification race.
The Rapids selected to subject however Bears openers Yates and Alex Davies put 50 on the board in 30 balls. England’s most up-to-date debutant Josh Tongue suffered a troublesome first over with three successive wides, however hit again effectively in his second over, beating Yates with three successive balls with out getting the sting.
After a robust powerplay (66 with out 0), the Bears misplaced Davies for 29, caught behind off Santner’s second ball however Yates galloped to his second Blast fifty in 24 hours earlier than skying a return catch to Dillon Pennington.
Maxwell’s departure, well-held by Pat Brown at long-off off Santner, introduced collectively two of English cricket’s most vibrant younger skills – Mousley and Chris Benjamin. They crashed 60 from 30 balls to go away the Rapids needing to attain at 11.40 an over.
They obtained a perky begin from Brett D’Oliveira and Jack Haynes earlier than the previous tried to swat Mousley’s first ball to leg and was bowled. Haynes then swung Danny Briggs over mid-wicket for six however drilled the subsequent ball to Yates at further cowl.
The Rapids needed to go for broke and that strain value wickets. Briggs struck a giant blow by luring former Bears team-mate, and fellow Ventnor product, Adam Hose to his doom, stumped by Davies. Kashif Ali smote Mousley far into the Hollies Stand however then dragged a swinging yorker from Hasan Ali on to his stumps in an outstanding over which value three runs and despatched the required fee into the stratosphere.
Santner landed some clear blows in his fifth T20 half-century off 27 balls, however Mousley bowled Ben Cox and Usama Mir with successive balls to go away the Rapids needing 96 from 5 overs. When Mousley had Santner stumped to finish his four-for, the Bears have been residence, hosed and within the quarter-finals.