BIRMINGHAM, England, CMC – Carlos Brathwaite produced a cameo with the bat to once again outshine fellow West Indies all-rounder Kyle Mayers, as he helped Birmingham Bears beat Northamptonshire by 14 runs and squeeze into the quarter-finals of the T20 Blast here Sunday.
Playing at Edgbaston, the hosts successfully defended 191 but still needed Leicestershire Foxes to trounce Worcestershire Rapids by seven wickets later at Grace Road, in order to clinch a top four spot in the North Group and qualify for the last eight.
Bears finished fourth in North Group on 15 points and will now travel to Canterbury next month to clash with Kent.
“It is a brilliant effort from the guys to have qualified after taking quite a few hits to the squad along the way,” said captain Will Rhodes.
“We finished the group with two excellent wins – Worcester and Northants are two very good T20 teams so to beat them well gives us great momentum for when we go down to Kent.
“Kent and us haven’t played each other for a very long time, so that will be very interesting.
“We owe the Foxes a favour, that’s for sure, but we got the job done in the last two games and that was always the aim. It was a very good and a very professional performance from the guys [on Sunday].”
Choosing to bat first, Bears piled up 191 for six off their 20 overs, with number six Chris Benjamin belting an unbeaten 60 off 34 deliveries.
With Bears in trouble at 68 for four in the ninth over, the debutant Benjamin put on an 84-run, fifth wicket partnership with Rhodes (32) and a further 39 off just 14 balls for the sixth wicket with Brathwaite (27).
Benjamin struck seven fours and a pair of sixes while Rhodes counted two fours and a six off 25 deliveries.
Brathwaite, who lashed an unbeaten half-century against Worcestershire last Friday, was once again in good touch with three sixes – all in the last over – and a four in a whirlwind ten-ball knock.
Mayers, in his second match for Bears, managed only 14 from 12 balls before he was run out in the 12th over.
In reply, Rob Keogh struck 55, Ricardo Vasconcelos, 39 and captain Josh Cobb, 35, but Foxes were limited to 171 for eight off their 20 overs.
Cobb and Vasconcelos added 65 for the second wicket but the innings stuttered once both were dismissed.
