Birmingham Bears defeated Yorkshire in a thrilling match by four runs, thanks in large part to Sam Hain’s outstanding 98 off 48 balls, which put them on their path to their fifth consecutive victory in the Vitality Blast. This victory also marked a major advancement into the quarterfinals.
The Bears amassed 214 for 7, with Hain hitting eight sixes in an innings that were more power than poised on a great Headingley surface.
The leaders of the North Group then completed a seventh victory in nine games, however not without incident. Dawid Malan scored a fantastic 54 to start the innings, while Donovan Ferreira smashed 66 off 32 balls, including seven sixes. The Vikings finished at 210 for 5, but George Garton impressively defended 11 off the final over and six off the final ball.
Yorkshire, who required 18 runs from the final two overs, will view this as a wasted opportunity as they lost their fifth game in nine.
Hain, meanwhile, is now atop the Blast runs chart at 395 thanks to his fourth fifty of the current campaign.
Alex Davies, the captain of the Bears and the first man to bat, made a quick 43 as well, but he had to leave the pitch after hurting his finger while keeping wicket.
Though not always to the short side over towards the Western Terrace, Hain’s power was surprising as most of his sixes went to the leg-side. With this format, he would have been chasing a club record when he departed Yorkshire.
With left-arm spinner Dan Moriarty taking Ed Barnard for a wicket with the opening ball of the match, the Vikings, who now have a lot of work ahead of them to finish in the top four, got off to the ideal start.
In the fourth over, Birmingham’s innings really got going when Davies took the most of Matthew Revis’s 24 runs. And after Hain, at number four, brilliantly assumed the lead position after Davies fell leg before wicket (LBW) off a yorker from Jordan Thompson (79 for 3 in the eighth over).
On a genuine pitch with a quick outfield, Hain reached his fifty off 34 balls with three leg-side sixes off seam. Bears were 141 for 4 in the fifteenth over at that point.
Hain entered the final over on 98 and appeared poised to score a second career T20 century. He did not, however, face another ball.
He actually saw New Zealander Zak Foulkes smash his opening ball as a Bear for six past Conor McKerr over the formidable Howard Stand and into the nearby rugby pitch.
All-round seam bowler Foulkes made a great start to his brief overseas stint with the Bears by catching Adam Lyth behind with his third ball in the second innings, taking the score to 18 for 1. Davies took the catch, but after being hit a moment earlier, he fled the pitch right after.
Still, Yorkshire got off to a good start under the guidance of the stylish Malan and the creative James Wharton. For the second wicket, they shared 62 runs in six overs, with the latter hitting a quick 29 with a six off Dan Mousley’s spin.
Similar to how Birmingham had been, Yorkshire were 98 for 3 after ten overs. George Hill had bowled and left-arm spinner Danny Briggs had dismissed Wharton, who was caught at deep midwicket.
The Vikings’ task was becoming harder with those dismissals. Not that Malan concurred. Using 38 balls, he reached his second fifty of 2024 when he lofted Briggs over long-on for six.
Ferreira, a vicious South African, became his partner. The two shared 57 runs for the third wicket in six overs until Malan hit a full toss from Briggs to deep midwicket, taking the score to 155 for 4.
Also Read: Michael Jones cameo strengthens Durham’s hopes for the quarterfinals.
However, Yorkshire still had a lot of batting left, especially Ferreira, who struck four sixes off the spin of Jake Lintott and the seam of Foulkes in a five-ball span. With 26 balls, he achieved his first county fifty.
Yorkshire needed 18 runs from the final two overs, but at the beginning of the penultimate over versus Mousley, Ferreira was caught at long-off, which proved to be the crucial moment as Vikings were reduced to 197 for 5. Garton, a left-arm quick, then skillfully finished things off, preventing Shan Masood from hitting the last ball for six.
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