62
NatWest t20 Blast 2015 (Semi-Final)
Birmingham Bears v Northamptonshire Steelbacks
1st Semi Final at Edgbaston, 29th August 2015
Umpires:
R. Illingworth & R. Robinson
Toss won by:
Northamptonshire who chose to bowl
BIRMINGHAM
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
INNINGS
INNINGS
V.Chopra *
lbw
b Willey
2
R. Levi
not out
63
I. Bell
c Duckett †
b Willey
4
D. Willey
c Bell
b Hannon-Dalby
12
W. Porterfield
b Willey
0
J. Cobb
b Patel
15
T. Ambrose †
c and b Kleinveldt
5
B. Duckett †
c Ambrose † b Rankin
6
R. Clarke
b Kleinveldt
41
A. Wakeley *
c Ambrose † b Patel
0
A. Javid
not out
51
S. Crook
c Bell b Rankin
11
L. Evans
run out
(White)
18
S. Afridi
not out
19
C. Woakes
R. Kleinveldt
J. Patel
G. White
O. Hannon-Dalby
O. Stone
W. Rankin
Azarullah
Extras
(4 b 3 lb 3 w)
10
Extras
(5 lb 4 w)
9
Total
(6 wkts, 20 overs)
131
Total
(5 wkts, 18 overs)
135
Wkts:
1-5, 2-6, 3-12, 4-14, 5-107, 6-131
Wkts:
1-27, 2-67, 3-74, 4-80, 5-95
O
M
R
W
O
M
R
W
Kleinveldt
4
0
16
2
Clarke
2
0
13
0
Willey
4
0
30
3
Woakes
3
0
25
0
Stone
4
0
26
0
Hannon-Dalby
3
0
30
1
Afridi
4
0
21
0
Patel
4
0
31
2
Azharullah
2
0
19
0
Rankin
4
0
20
2
White
2
0
12
0
Javid
2
0
11
0
Match Result: Northamptonshire won by 5 wickets.
The Northamptonshire Steelbacks were guided to a
NatWest t20 Blast Final by Richard Levi with an unbeaten
63 as the 2013 champions comfortably defeated reigning
NatWest t20 Blast holders Birmingham Bears by five
wickets.
Two years ago, the big-hitting South African struck
57 against Essex and he was at it again at Edgbaston to
help the Steelbacks chase down the Bears’ 131 for six
with two overs to spare.
Birmingham, had been reduced to 14 for four as
Willey again took centre stage for the Steelbacks with
figures of 3-30 and although Ateeq Javid and Rikki Clarke
helped steady the ship, the Steelbacks never looked
troubled in reaching their second final in three years.
After the Steelbacks had won the toss and inserted
the holders Chopra and Porterfield fell either side of a
Willey wide and a bad start became a dreadful one when
Kleinveldt held on to a caught-and-bowled opportunity
off Ambrose and Willey then struck again, when finding a
thin outside edge from Bell to leave Birmingham in deep
trouble at 14-4.
The result was already beginning to look inevitable
for even the most optimistic of Bears’ supporters even
before there was a period of more than seven overs
without a boundary, as Clarke and Javid tried to re-build
the shattered innings. Importantly though for the Bears,
the fifth wicket pair were still together and started to
accelerate bringing up the 100 in the eighteenth over.
Clarke’s resistance ended for forty one when
bowled by Kleinveldt with the partnership on 93 but Javid
remained unbeaten on fifty one at the end of the innings.
Evans’ late flurry helped post something for the
Bears’ bowlers to defend, but it always looked light of a
competitive total.
It didn’t take long for Levi to make his intentions
clear, when hitting two boundaries in the opening over as
the Steelbacks, assisted by some mis-fields, took eleven
runs to get them on their way.
Finals Day gets underway
The Bears fought gamely to get back into the game
when Willey went for just twelve and Cobb followed for
fifteen to a good delivery from Patel, while Duckett and
captain Wakely both fell cheaply.
However, it was Levi who continued to make hay
and despite seeing wickets fall at the other end, as Crook
fell to Rankin, Shahid Afridi 19, joined him and batted
patiently to help see the Steelbacks home to what was a
comfortable victory with twelve deliveries to spare, to the
huge disappointment of the many Bears’ fans hoping to
have seen a repeat of the 2014 success.
Birmingham coach Dougie Brown was philosophical
in defeat and admitted his side were up against it
following Willey’s inspired early performance.
“A semi-final is never an easy place to lose,
especially having had quite decent form,” he said.
“For us to not deliver was really disappointing. At
14-4 it’s always difficult. Rikki Clarke and Ateeq Javid
played pretty well to get us back to a platform. Maybe
after 10 overs maybe one of them could have gone
quicker, but you live and learn.”
“We didn’t win the game because we didn’t deliver the
kind of skills we delivered throughout the group stages.”
