BIRMINGHAM, England, CMC – An explosive Carlos Brathwaite half-century overshadowed Kyle Mayers’s debut for Birmingham Bears, as the home side brushed aside Worcestershire Rapids by 17 runs, to improve their chances of a berth in the next round of the T20 Blast.
Choosing to bat first at Edgbaston on Friday, Bears recovered from 63 for five in the ninth over to reach 169 without further loss off 20 overs, with Sam Hain hitting an unbeaten 83 off 53 balls and Brathwaite, 52 not out off 38 balls.
Mayers, entering at number five, made only 13. In reply, Jake Libby top-scored with 36, Daryl Mitchell got 29 and Ross Whiteley, 28, as Rapids came up short on 152 for six, after needing 23 from the final over.
The victory, the first in three outings for the Bears, left them fifth in the North Group on 13 points but only six points off leaders Nottinghamshire, with one game left against Northamptonshire on Sunday.
Bears started poorly when Ed Pollock was comprehensively bowled by Australian left-arm seamer Ben Dwarshuis for five off the fourth ball of the match, and opening partner Sam Hose played on to pacer Dillon Pennington (2-11) for four in the next over.
Captain Will Rhodes edged Pennington to short third man in the fifth over for 11, paving the way for Mayers’ arrival but the West Indies Test left-hander blasted seamer Charlie Morris for a straight six before holing out to long on off pacer Ed Barnard in the eighth over.
When Robert Yates (1) spooned a return catch to leg-spinner Brett D’Oliveira in the next over, Bears were staring down the barrel but Hain and Brathwaite combined in an entertaining unbroken 106-run, sixth wicket stand to bail them out.
Hain struck eight fours and a couple of sixes while Brathwaite, whose first 19 runs required 27 balls, picked up the tempo to lash two fours and three sixes as his last 33 runs came from only 11 deliveries.
With both batsmen on the charge, Bears gathered 53 runs from the last three overs, Brathwaite reaching his third T20 half-century off the last ball of the innings with a boundary to extra cover off Morris.
Staring at a straightforward total, Rapids slumped to 21 for two in the fourth before Libby and Mitchell revived the innings in a 55-run, third wicket stand.
But once Mitchell picked out deep mid-wicket with seamer Craig Miles (2-27) in the 11th over and Libby holed out to deep extra cover in the 14th over off Rhodes’s medium pace, Rapids quickly faded.
They needed 29 from the last two overs but medium pacer Brathwaite produced a miserly penultimate over which cost only six runs, to snuff out any remaining threat.
The former West Indies T20 captain, who has already taken 18 wickets in the tournament, went wicketless from four overs which cost 39 runs.