CRICKET – Birmingham Bears slide to back-to-back T20 Blast defeats

BIRMINGHAM Bears slipped to back-to-back defeats against Lancashire Lightning and Durham in the T20 Blast.

The Bears lost by eight points against Lancashire at Old Trafford before suffering a 26-point defeat against Durham at Edgbaston.

And the results mean the Bears sit sixth in the Northern Group standings.

Against Lancashire, the hosts made a strong start as George Garton (1-18) bowled Josh Bohannon (15) while Luke Wells (66) and Keaton Jennings (18) helped the Lightning reach 98-2.

Bears bowler Jake Lintott (2-29) eventually claimed the wickets of both Jennings and Wells before Danny Briggs (1-24) deputized for Tom Bruce (11).

And Garton then finished off Matthew Hurst (7) while Steven Croft (26) and Chris Green (17) helped Lancashire to 176-8.

In reply, Birmingham lost openers Alex Davies (16) and Rob Yates (7) in consecutive overs before Wells (2-25) bowled Chris Benjamin (15) and Dan Mousley (11) to fall to leave the Bears on 76-4.

Excellent knocks from Jacob Bethell (33) and Sam Hain (59) took the Bears closer to the required total but not at a fast enough run rate to set up an exciting finish.

Birmingham needed 24 runs from the final over as Hasan Ali (17 not out) hit two sixes for nothing as the Bears fell nine runs short of victory.

And a strong batting display from Durham saw the Bears lose a second T20 Blast game in a row.

Durham recovered from 0-1 in the first over after Garton (3-41) claimed the wicket of Graham Clark (0) while David Bedingham (61) scored a half-century, hitting nine fours and three sixes in his 27 overs. – innings with the ball.

Useful knocks from Ollie Robinson (25) and Ashton Turner (33) kept the runs flowing, while Ben Raine (13), Paul Coughlin (16) and Matthew Potts (14) all reached double figures as Durham finished on 194-9.

In reply, the Bears lost opener Yates (0) after just two balls, Davies (47) and Mousley (35) helped Birmingham recover to 81-2.

However, after Bethell (50) fell in the 18th over, the Bears lost their last three wickets for the addition of just 10 runs as Raine (5-21) claimed an impressive five wickets.

Birmingham continue their T20 Blast campaign against Yorkshire Vikings on Friday, June 14, with the match kicking off at 7.05pm at Edgbaston.

The Bears then travel to Derbyshire Falcons on Sunday, June 16, with the game set to kick off at 3.30pm at the County Ground.

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