Birmingham Hose down the Rapids to top Northern T20 Blast group

Birmingham Bears 228/8 (20)

Worcestershire Rapids 84/10 (15.3)

After a shaky start, the Birmingham Bears flexed their muscles at Edgbaston and avenged their only loss of the campaign against the Worcestershire Rapids with a convincing 144 run victory thanks to an outstanding 110 run knock from Adam Hose. 

Fans were still filing into Edgbaston as Mitchell Stanley skittled Alex Davies on just the second ball of the match, before following it up with the dismissal of Sam again thanks to a Moeen Ali catch. Two ducks, and a hat trick on the cards with just three balls bowled – there could not have been a much better start for the visitors. 

However, Adam Hose arrived at the crease and immediately started pushing the scoring with some cultured yet aggressive batting, taking advantage of the short boundaries. The dismissal of Robert Yates for 20 seemingly had no affect on the Isle of Wight born all-rounder, as the hosts clocked up 100 before the end of the 8th over. 

As the middle overs continued, Hose put on a batting masterclass with a delightful variation of brutish sixes and classy touches to make a boundary. 

Dan Mousley played the perfect supporting role making 53 off 34 before being caught by Adam Finch from a Kashif Ali ball in the 12th. 

As the wickets from the middle order continued to fall, Hose started to enjoy himself as the scoring was pushed well beyond 200 and the Bears were put in firm control of the encounter. 

As the Rapids set about chasing the score of 228, Alex Gidman’s side were well aware of the necessity to take risks early doors, but also to build a partnership quickly. Whilst the visitors certainly took risk, they did not pay dividends as Ed Pollock and Brett Oliveira were dismissed after failing to connect with their big shots. 

There was no solace for Worcestershire, who despite taking risks to try and kickstart their run chase, found themselves two wickets down and with a drastically below par run rate. Moeen Ali was the next victim of trying to force the issue before being caught off the Dan Mousley ball. 

On just 49 runs headed into the 8th over, the game was all but lost already, but the nail was hammered firmly into the Worcestershire coffin when their top scorer Colin Munro was caught by Davies for 34 off 28, before Dwayne Bravo followed him straight back up the pavilion following his dismissal for a duck. 

Kashif Ali was next to try and make the score more respectable, but he was gone after a mistimed sweep shot that saw a clear lbw, and following this, Ed Barnard and Gareth Roderick were quick to return as they were caught out for a combined score of nine. 

The target was near on mathematically impossible for Worcestershire to reach, but Adam Finch and Pat Brown were tasked with prolonging the innings as best they could. Finch was skittled after 10 balls, and Mitchell Stanley was mercifully caught out after eight to end a dismal day for the visitors. 

At 3-2 in the first over, Birmingham looked as if they could have been in a spot of bother early on. However, thanks for the most part to the partnership of Adam Hose and Dan Mousley, the Bears were able to turn a worrying predicament into an emphatic victory. 

Some wild bowling from Worcestershire certainly did not help their cause, leaving many balls sitting in the pocket begging to be hit, perhaps indicative of why the Rapids have conceded over 200 runs on three occasions during this Blast campaign, only matched by Durham in the entire competition. 

With a total of 228 to chase, it would be perhaps somewhat unfair to point the finger of blame towards the batting side of Worcestershire’s game, though their score of 84 was indeed the lowest of all teams in the 2022 Blast campaign. 

Following Lancashire’s narrowest of all losses, Birmingham now top the Northern group in the T20 Blast, and currently would qualify as a top seed. Contrary to this, the nature of the Northern group has resulted in a group of teams bunched around similar points totals. As such, in theory Birmingham could still miss out on the Quarter-Finals all together, though it would require to beat Leicestershire convincingly and the Bears to suffer heavy losses in their last two games. 

The aim of course will be to be as highly seeded as possible, and final clashes against Lancashire and Yorkshire will be pivotal in deciding who tops proceedings in the Northern group. 

As for Worcestershire, they are all but mathematically confined to the bottom of the Northern section, and Kent’s recent win over Sussex has made it very likely the Rapids will finish the campaign as the worst performing outfit.  Gidman’s side will have games against Lancashire and Nottinghamshire at New Road to put some respectability upon their 2022 Blast. 

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