Shropshire Star

Double defeat for Birmingham Bears

Birmingham Bears’ perfect start to their Vitality Blast campaign was ended by a double defeat on Friday and Saturday.

Published
Bears skipper Alex Davies watches on as Durham’s David Bedingham hits a big six on his way to 63 Pic: Stu Leggett

They went down by 26 runs to Durham at Edgbaston, 24 hours after losing their first match of the campaign by eight runs at Lancashire Lightning.

Against Durham, he visitors amassed an imposing 194 for nine at Edgbaston as David Bedingham continued his fine form with a scintillating 63 from 27 balls. Dan Mousley underlined his England white-ball credentials with a steel-nerved 4-0-23-2 while George Garton took 3-41. But the Bears’ reply then fell short at 168 all out from 18.4 overs after Ben Raine (3.4-0-21-5) bowled beautifully to take important wickets at important times.

Jake Bethell struck 50 (32), his maiden T20 half-century, but the chase petered out as wickets fell too regularly.