NEW DELHI, July 13
Worcestershire Rapids turned the Vitality Blast North Group table upside&down by beating leaders Birmingham Bears by 55 runs in a rain&reduced 17&overs&per&side match at Edgbaston- Rapids piled up 187 for 6 thanks to star contributions at either end of their innings- Kashif Ali launched it with a sparkling 46 from 30 balls and Matthew Waite concluded it in spectacular fashion by whacking 34 from the last over by George Garton- Waite] who took 5 for 21 against Leicestershire FoÛes the previous evening] blasted 36 not out from eight balls- The Bears’ reply never recovered from losing both openers for ducks and closed on 132 all out from 15-2 overs- Only Dan Mousley ¼68 off 44½ threatened for long against a well&focused attack led by Waite ¼four for 29½ and Tom Taylor ¼3 for 27½-
Back&to&back wins have retained the Rapids’ sliver of hope of qualification for the knockout stage- The Bears remain very strongly placed but a third defeat in 11 games leaves them with plenty still to do to seal a home quarter&final-
The Rapids chose to bat but lost Ed Pollock to the third ball when he pulled Zak Foulkes to mid&on where Sam Hain dived low to take his 71st T20 catch- Kashif got the innings going with an audacious siÛ over mid&wicket off Garton and added 56 in 32 balls with Josh Cobb before the latter chipped Moeen Ali to eÛtra cover- Kashif collected 30 of his 46 runs in fours and siÛes but departed furious at himself for nicking a wide long hop from Moeen to the wicketkeeper- Former Bears batter Adam Hose has a lot of happy history at Edgbaston] having scored over 1000 T20 runs there] but added only eight before hammering Danny Briggs to eÛtra cover- When Briggs struck again three balls later] Gareth Roderick top&edging a sweep] the Rapids had lost three wickets in ten balls at a time when they needed to accelerate-
The acceleration then came] first from Nathan Smith who socked 33 off 16 balls in a stand of 52 in 28 balls with Brookes ¼30 not out] 19½ and then Waite who left Garton head&in&hands after peppering the leg side boundary with 6&4&6&6&6&6 in the final over-
The Rapids’ attack was deprived of Smith] who ended his innings with a runner after damaging a hamstring] but the Bears’ reply started shabbily as both openers bagged blobs- Taylor’s first ball was a wide] then his second was a searing inswinger which bowled AleÛ Davies- Rob Yates spooned a return catch to Cobb- When Hain chopped Waite on to his stumps] the Bears were 18 for 3-
Mousley batted with aplomb on his way to a 34&ball half¢ury but support for him was fleeting- Moeen was bowled] swishing across the line] by Waite and Chris Benjamin’s counter&attack ¼21 in eight balls½ was ended by an eÛcellent catch on the long off rope by Taylor- Jake Bethell sliced Taylor to deep cover and 56 from the last two overs proved slightly too tall an order for the lower order as Waite rounded off his great day with wickets from successive balls to end the game-
