T20’s coming home says Bears matchwinner Bell!
IAN Bell’s stylish 82 not out from 57 balls helped Birmingham Bears open their Vitality Blast campaign with an impressive eight-wicket victory over defending champions Notts Outlaws.
The former England batsman struck 11 fours and one six and shared an unbroken 121-run partnership with Sam Hain (45no) as the Bears chased down their 156run victory target with 16 balls to spare.
Man of the match Ian Bell said: “Obviously we are very pleased; it went well for us in the field and came on nicely when we batted.
“We’ve had a few warm-up games to knock the rust off and we’ve come here and hit the ground running.”
And asked if they can win it this year, he said, “It’s coming home!”
Birmingham therefore gained a measure of revenge at Trent Bridge after losing in last year’s final at Edgbaston to the Outlaws, who were restricted to 155 for seven after being put in to bat.
Riki Wessels top-scored with 41 but the innings was only given some impetus by Billy Root and Luke Fletcher.
Root finished with an unbeaten 33 from 29 balls, while Fletcher hit Jeetan Patel for three sixes and a four from consecutive deliveries on his way to a 14-ball score of 27.
Samit Patel, man-of-the-match in last September’s final, was one of two ducks made in the early stages of the contest.
Patel pushed his first delivery straight back into the grateful hands of Colin de Grandhomme, who returned figures of two for 24.
The other player who failed to score was Chris Nash, who endured a miserable T20 debut for the county.
He was given out in the first over, caught behind from the bowling of Henry Brookes.
Replays seemed to suggest that the ball brushed the 35-year-old’s shoulder on its way through to wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose.
Nash then suffered further when he injured himself diving in the outfield and had to be led off with a shoulder injury.
Harry Gurney, in his 100th T20 match, removed Ed Pollock with his first delivery of the match and Ish Sodhi bowled Adam Hose but they were the only two successes as Notts used seven different bowlers in attempting to prise Bell and Hain apart.
Bell reached his 50 from only 33 balls and left it to Hain to finish the match with a clip through midwicket off Gurney, his fifth four in a 30-ball innings that included one six.
Dan Christian, Notts captain, said: “We never got any momentum and we were at least 30 under par but if we’d been able to take a few wickets early on, then you never know.
“Realistically, it was going to be difficult because whatever the wicket looks like here you know it is going to play well and it’s a small ground with a fast outfield.
“We lost our first two matches last year and still went on to win it, so it’s not the end of the world; we’ve just got to get back on the horse when we play Northants on Friday.”