Durham completed a highly productive Vitality Blast raid on the Midlands with a 26-run victory over Birmingham Bears to follow their vanquishing of Leicestershire Foxes the previous evening.
The visitors amassed an imposing 194 for nine at Edgbaston as David Bedingham continued his fine form with a scintillating 63 from 27 balls. Dan Mousley underlined his England white-ball credentials with a steel-nerved 4-0-23-2 while George Garton took three for 41.
The Bears reply then fell short at 168 all out from 18.4 overs after Ben Raine (3.4-0-21-5) bowled beautifully to take important wickets at important times, claiming his maiden T20 five-wicket haul . Jake Bethell struck 50 (32), his maiden T20 half-century, but the chase petered out as wickets fell too regularly.
The result keeps the North Division table very tight with both sides having won two and lost two. Momentum is very much with Durham after successive wins, however, while the Bears nurse back-to-back defeats.
After choosing to bat, Durham lost a wicket second ball when Graham Clark chipped Garton to mid-wicket but the early strike worked against the Bears as it brought Bedingham to the crease. The South African smashed Garton for 18 in four balls and thundered to 50 in 21, reaching his half-century with six over mid-wicket in an Aamer Jamal over that went for 25.
Alex Lees, the previous evening’s matchwinner at Leicester, contributed just eight to a stand of 60 before missing a slog-sweep at Mousley and falling lbw. Bedingham welcomed Jake Lintott into the attack with six into the pavilion but the wrist spinner’s revenge arrived three balls later when Rob Yates took a stinging catch at extra cover.
Lintott also ended Ollie Robinson’s punchy cameo at 25, caught by Bethell at deep mid-wicket. Mousley cramped Raine’s desire to seek out the short leg-side boundary and bowled him. Ashton Turner improvised effectively for 33 (24) before top-edging a swipe at Garton and the Bears reined in the scoring during the closing overs. Just one four arrived in six overs before Matthew Potts socked Garton for a six and a four in the last.
Callum Parkinson trapped Yates lbw with the first legitimate ball of the Bears’ reply but Alex Davies (47,30) and Mousley (35, 20) gave their side a sound foundation with a stand of 80 in 46 balls. They fell in the space of three balls, however, when Raine won an lbw verdict to even up his personal duel with Mousley and Davies was emphatically stumped off Turner’s first ball.
Sam Hain lifted Nathan Sowter to long off before Raine cranked up the pressure with a clever over which cost just five and then bowled Chris Benjamin and Jamal with the first two balls of his next.
Bethell reached 50 in 31 balls but sliced to deep backward point off Potts and Hasan Ali hoisted the next to deep mid-wicket. Raine returned to bowl Lintott and then complete the win in glorious style by knocking out Garton’s middle stump.