Report: Birmingham Bears 2nd XI v Northants Steelbacks 2nd XI, SE T20
Match 1
Toss won by Birmingham Bears 2nd XI who decided to field
Northants Steelbacks 2nd XI 139-8 (20.0 overs)
Birmingham Bears 2nd XI 140-2 (19.4 overs)
Birmingham Bears 2nd XI (2 points) won by 8 wickets
The Bears put the Steelbacks in to bat at Moseley CC and were quickly rewarded with a wicket in the opening over when Thurston edged Hannon-Dalby to Alex Mellor.
Pepper, 19, was Leverock’s first wicket for the Bears who used spinners Josh Poysden 2-31 and Sunny Singh 2-12 effectively to restrict Steelbacks to 139-8 with Hannon-Dalby also taking two wickets.
Zab 47 top scored with Sole making 22.
In reply Mellor 46 and Hammond 56* put on 89 in twelve overs. Matt Lamb, 30*, saw the Bears completed an eight wicket victory with a couple of deliveries in hand.
Match 2
Toss won by Northants Steelbacks 2nd XI who decided to bat
Northants Steelbacks 2nd XI 103-9 (20.0 overs)
Birmingham Bears 2nd XI 107-3 (15.3 overs)
Birmingham Bears 2nd XI (2 points) won by 7 wickets
In the second match after winning the toss and batting, Oliver Hannon-Dalby’s three wickets in his opening two overs at the start of the innings, plus a fourth wicket from Javid, virtually put an end to any real chance the visitors had of victory as they slumped to 10-4 in the fourth over.
Adair, unbeaten on 41, helped Northants pass a hundred, but 103-9 was never going to be a defendable total as Hannon-Dalby finished with 4-14 from three overs. Javid 2-18, Poysden 1-17 and Singh 1-22 took the other wickets.
Hammond, 44, opened with Umeed 28 in this second match, putting on 66 for the first wicket.
With Lamb unbeaten on 18, the Bears romped home by seven wickets with 27 deliveries in hand to record a comfortable second victory on the day.