Birmingham Bears Vitality T20 Blast at Edgbaston Loss

THE OLD BEAR AND THE BIG MAN GIVE OUTLAWS A MAULING

Bell and de Grandhomme coast Bears to easy win after another Notts batting failure and Sodhi gets a roasting


Notts are all but out of the T20 competition after another sub standard performance saw them lose by six wickets at Edgbaston last night with 22 balls unused. A crowd of 8952 saw Notts post a completely inadequate 152 for eight, a total that seemed at least 40 under par. Notts batting line up lacking depth and any confidence failed to milk the short boundary on the Raglan side of the ground. The sixes count of 10 to the Bears and three to Notts gave an accurate picture of the gulf between the teams. Sodhi conceded 35 off his three overs. The management would claim he takes wickets, unfortunately he leaks runs and can't bat or field, but Notts have another spinner on the books who took white ball wickets galore earlier this year. The decision not to go with an additional overseas batter in this competition has almost certainly cost Notts qualification. The baseball is small fry what Notts cannot afford is another “de Kock up” in their overseas signing to see out the championship. A poor run-in could not only result in relegation but the ability to recruit decent new recruits for next season. The fitness of Nash and Coughlin is now crucial but the pressure on the Director of Cricket to pull a rabbit out of the hat is now intense, and I'm not talking about a typical Notts number eleven batsman!!! Notts innings contained one significant stand of 52 (in seven overs) between top scorer Patel (41) and Mullaney (24), the rest of the innings contained no highlights. Hales has now appeared in five games for Notts this season and has not contributed in any of them. The first two balls of the Bears reply were hit for six by Pollock off Samit Patel. The Bears were 63 for three in the eighth over, but Sodhi went for 18 in his opening over and this seemed to completely knock the stuffing out of Notts with Warwick scoring 92 off the last 50 balls they had to face. Ian Bell picked up the man of the match award with 54 off 37 balls (3 x 4, 2 x 6) and he was well supported by Colin de Grandhomme with 49 off 28 balls with five sixes and one four. The Bears had supercharged their net run rate whereas Notts sinking fast currently lie seventh in the table.

An unchanged Notts team were inserted by Bears captain Grant Elliott. Thomason bowled the first over from the City End and conceded nine, including an off side four for Hales. Jeetan Patel bowled four dot balls to Hales who then hit for a four through extra cover followed by a straight six. Wessels (3) holed out to the square leg ropes off Hannon-Dalby, well caught low down by Adam Hose, 19 for one. Hannon-Dalby conceding seven including a four through point by Hales. Moores was caught at wide long on by Hose off Patel for 2, 26 for two. Three balls later Hales going for leg side pull bottom edged Patel onto his stumps to depart for 20, 27 for three. Samit Patel hit two offside fours off Hannon-Dalby, 37 for three off 5 overs. Five came off Jeetan Patel's third over, 42 for three at the end of the power play. 

Same old story, too many batsman out in the first 36 balls.

Elliott put himself on and conceded six. Poysden replaced Patel as Mullaney hit him for 4 through extra cover. Samit Patel then hit for four through backward point, 12 off the over. Mulllaney edged Elliott for four, 67 for 3 off 9 overs. Four runs came off Poysden's second over. Mullaney lifted Hannon-Dalby into the lower tier of the Motorpoint Stand but next ball hit him straight down long off's throat. Mullaney out for 24 the fourth wicket had added 52 runs. A short ball from Poysden was pulled for four by Patel. Next ball Patel found the third man ropes, 91 for four off 12 overs. Christian hit Elliott for an off side four, eight off the over. Patel (41 off 39 balls with 5 boundaries) was caught at long on by his namesake off Thomason, 102 for five. Christian (10) was caught low down by Bell at point off Elliott, 105 for 6. The Bears skipper 4-0-26-1. Poysden's last over went for four, 112 for six off 16 overs. A full toss from Thomason was hit for 4 by Billy Root. Libby then hit him for four, 14 off the over. Root edged Jeetan Patel for four. Libby hit Patel for four through extra cover, Patel 4- 0-28-2. Root was caught at short third man by Poysden off Hannon-Dalby for 17, 141 for seven. Five off Hannon-Dalby’s last over; the Halifax man 4-0-30-3. Fletcher (3) mistimed to extra cover as Elliott took the catch, Thomason the bowler. Thomason felt sorry for Notts and gave them five wides; Notts finishing on 152 for eight Libby 21 not out. Wides also made a good contribution with 11. Notts though had batted poorly.

Patel started from the City End. Pollock hit a square leg six and then a straight six to open the innings, 15 off the over. Gurney came on for the second over, 20 for 0 after two overs. Pollock (14) top edged Christian as Moores got under the skier, 20 for 1. Ian Bell then hit Christian for a leg side four, 32 for one off 3 overs. Luke Fletcher then conceded seven. Hose hit Gurney into orbit and Christian took the catch at mid off, 39 for two. Bell hit Fletcher for a straight six, 53 for two at end of the power play.

Hain hit Sodhi for a straight six, 10 off the over. Three dot balls for Mullaney was followed by Hain's wicket as he holed out to long off, 63 for three. Just a single off the over. Sodhi was hit for enormous leg side by Bell who followed up with a four. De Grandhomme joined in the fun lofting Sodhi for six, 18 off the over. Mullaney then conceded seven. De Grandhomme lifted Patel for six over square leg, 98 for three off 11 overs. Mullaney then hit for six by the Big Man this time over long on. A straight six then followed, a four (3-0-14-1) completed the over through the covers, 19 off the over. De Grandhomme then hit Gurney for a leg side six, 127 for 3 off 13 overs. Sodhi then conceded seven. Bell got to 50 off 33 balls. As Sodhi then dropped him at backward square off Fletcher. Bell (54) then holed out to long on as Hales took the catch off Fletcher, 142 for four. Root then conceded six as the winning runs came via two consecutive fours by Elliott off Fletcher. Warwick 156 for 4 off 16.2 overs. The game finishing at 2131 giving the extremely tiny Notts away contingent plenty of time to catch the 2203 from New Street. Notts after two extremely poor performances need to improve vastly against The Tykes later today. Pride is now very much at stake but what happens from August 19th onwards is what will define Notts season a sixth place finish or higher will be very much Mission Accomplished, particularly after a better than expected 50 over campaign. MAG

WHAT WILL SHE BE SINGING?

Does the fat lady know what she is going to sing? She's probably looking through her collection of song sheets already.

10 Points
5 Wins
5 Defeats

Thursday, Game 11 sees Outlaws sitting in 6th position, only one point a adrift of a Q/F place in 4th but with significantly inferior NRR owing to the worst hiding that Outlaws have taken at "Fortress Trent Bridge" for many seasons but at least this game isn't being played at Trent Bridge where members have been heard totting-up the number of defeats that they have witnessed this season already.     

Following the dire performance against Rapids, a shake-up of the team is needed, that's patently obvious and the result should serve as a kick up the backside for the club.

Change is needed.

A return to the location where Outlaws claimed the ultimate prize last September can only help to invoke some confidence from the memories gained there. Healthily players still talk-up our chances, but time is running out! We do have the players to win the competition outright, we just need those players to play like they can win it, like a team!

Usefully new boy Paul Coughlin is playing a full part, batting and bowling in the SEC match being played at Lady Bay this week. A positive outcome would be him ready to bowl in this Blast game, him having no negative reaction and feeling that he has instantly found his bowling rhythm. We can hope and remember, time is running out! His inclusion would change the team dynamic and increase options.

This round sees Outlaws up against their conquerors from this season's opener, Birmingham (that name is still so very wrong and has been proved to be, as it was warned it would be at the time of the switch, "the thin edge of the wedge" for the farce scheduled for 2020) Bears. Bears are sharing some of Outlaws inconsistencies but if they win, they'll knock Outlaws further down the table and probably mean that the fat lady can open her songbook for the Outlaws. Likewise if Outlaws win then the fat lady will be singing a different song, possibly. And we did beat them in last game of 2017, the final.

The games against Yorkshire remain crucial for both counties (Notts and Yorkshire), teams could qualify for the Q/F with 16 points or as little as 14 if other results went our way but we would be still be saddled with a crippling negative NRR unless we can bag a runaway win ourselves to turn that around, so 18 points has to our goal. Alternatively, if the heatwave breaks , could a few NRs add to the twists of fate along the way?

Outlaws' 11:

Jake Libby, 
Steven Mullaney, 
Riki Wessels, 
Alex Hales, 
Harry Gurney,  
Luke Fletcher, 
Samit Patel, 
Tom Moores (wkt), 
Dan Christian (c), 
Ish Sodhi
Billy Root. 

Nothing to lose

Well done Northants beating Derbyshire and the speedy T20 debut for the middle Curran brother, Ben. Makes a ton at Lady Bay, next day completes win over Notts then travels down the A52 to Derby for Blast game in the evening (didn't shine with the bat however).