Report: Vikings v Bears, Vitality Blast

Sam Hain’s stunning 98 off 48 balls set the Bears on their way to a fifth straight win in the Vitality Blast as they beat Yorkshire in a high-scoring thriller by four runs to take a significant step towards the quarter-finals.

Hain crashed eight sixes in an innings with more power than poise on an excellent Headingley surface as the Bears amassed 214 for seven.

The North Group leaders then wrapped up a seventh win in nine matches, but not without drama. Dawid Malan opened with an excellent 54 and Donovan Ferreira blasted 66 off 32 balls with seven sixes. But George Garton brilliantly defended 11 off the last over and six off the last ball, the Vikings finishing on 210 for five. 

Yorkshire lost their fifth match in nine and will see this as a missed opportunity given they needed 18 off the last two overs. 

Hain’s fourth fifty of the ongoing campaign took him to the top of the Blast runs chart on 395. 

Captain and opener Alex Davies, who elected to bat, also contributed a brisk 43, though he later left the field with a finger injury sustained whilst keeping wicket. 

Hain was more powerful than he is known for and hit the majority of his sixes to the leg-side, though not exclusively to the short side over towards the Western Terrace. 

He left Yorkshire faced with what would have been a club record chase in this format.

The Vikings, who now have significant work to do for a top-four finish, made the perfect start as left-arm spinner Dan Moriarty bowled Ed Barnard with the fixture’s first ball. 

Birmingham’s innings kicked into life in the fourth over as Davies took the lion’s share of 24 off Matthew Revis – 41 for one. 

After Davies was trapped lbw by a Jordan Thompson yorker – 79 for three in the eighth over – Hain, having come in at number four, took on the lead role in stunning fashion. 

Hain hit three leg-side sixes off seam in reaching his fifty off 34 balls on a true pitch with a fast outfield.

By that stage, the Bears were 141 for four in the 15th over.

Hain – a two-time England one-day international – looked nailed on for a second career T20 century as he went into the final over on 98. But he didn’t face another ball.

In fact, he watched New Zealander Zak Foulkes whip his first ball as a Bear for six off Conor McKerr over fine-leg and over the imposing Howard Stand into the neighbouring rugby ground.

Seam bowling all-rounder Foulkes continued his excellent start to his short-term overseas spell with the Bears when he had Adam Lyth caught behind with his third ball – 18 for one in the second.

Davies took the catch but immediately left the field having taken a blow moments before.

But, despite the wicket, Yorkshire started nicely thanks to classy Malan and inventive James Wharton. They shared 62 in six overs for the second wicket, the latter reverse sweeping a six off Dan Mousley’s spin in a rapid 29.

Like Birmingham had been, Yorkshire were 98 for three after 10 overs, with left-arm spinner Danny Briggs (three for 35) having removed Wharton caught at deep midwicket and George Hill bowled.

With those dismissals, the Vikings’ task was getting tougher.

Not that Malan agreed. He lofted Briggs over long-on for six and reached his second fifty of 2024 off 38 balls.

He found a partner in ferocious South African Ferreira, and they shared 57 inside six overs for the third wicket before Malan slapped a Briggs full toss to deep midwicket – 155 for four in the 16th.

But Yorkshire had plenty of batting left, not least Ferreira, who hit four sixes in a five-ball period off Jake Lintott’s spin and Foulkes’ seam. He reached his maiden county fifty off 26 balls. 

Yorkshire needed 18 off the last two overs, but Ferreira was caught at long-off against Mousley at the start of the penultimate – ultimately the key moment, 197 for five. Left-arm quick Garton then expertly closed things out, with Shan Masood failing to hit the final ball for six.

Garton said: “It was a great advert for cricket and the T20 Blast as a whole. Everyone knows that at Headingley it’s a high-scoring game. I thought Sam Hain batted outstandingly in our innings, and everyone played cameos around him.

“We said at half-time that we were just about par – maybe five or 10 runs over. 

“Although we kept ourselves in it, they were definitely in the driving seat up to the last two overs. Ferreira played brilliantly and Malan plays the way he always does – he controlled the game very well. 

“I know that I found pace off more effective than pace on, just to change things up. Although there wasn’t big turn or big seam, there was a bit of hold with slower balls.”