Spinners turn on the style for ruthless Bears
North Group leaders Birmingham Bears stamped themselves as the side to beat for any rival with aspirations to win this season’s Vitality Blast as they thrashed Notts Outlaws at Trent Bridge, winning by nine wickets after bowling the home side out for just 57.
The Bears’ batters needed only 32 balls to finish the job, Rob Yates top-scoring with a 20-ball unbeaten 35.
Seamers George Garton and Zak Foulkes shared three wickets in the opening powerplay but it was the Bears quintet of spinners who were largely responsible for the demolition as Jake Lintott (2-17), Moeen Ali (2-2) , Dan Mousley, Danny Briggs and Jacob Bethell shared seven wickets between them.
“It was a really good performance,” said Lintott. “We took that knock at Somerset in the Championship but we have bounced back really nicely with two good wins this weekend.
“I think it was a pretty poor surface really for T20 cricket but it suited us down to the ground, holding in the surface with a lot of spin. We adapted to the surface early, the seamers taking pace off straight away and we made the most of it in what was a clinical and ruthless performance.
“We’ve done really well in this format the last few years and it is our big frustration that we haven’t qualified for finals day and that is our objective this year.”
