BIRMINGHAM, England, CMC – West Indies all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite led a terrific bowling effort for Birmingham Bears but flopped with the bat in a disappointing run chase, as the hosts slumped to a 34-run defeat to Durham in the English T20 Blast here Saturday.
Opting to bowl first at Edgbaston, Bears restricted Durham to 164 for eight off their 20 overs, with Brathwaite grabbing three for 32 runs from his four overs.
Medium pacers Will Rhodes (2-11) and Tim Bresnan (2-25) supported with two wickets apiece.
Captain Cameron Bancroft lashed 60 from 45 deliveries while England’s Ben Stokes punched 35 from 20, to pull their side around from nine for two in the third over.
In reply, Bears collapsed for 130 all out with nine deliveries left in the run chase, with captain Rhodes top-scoring with 45 from 27 deliveries and Matthew Lamb hitting 39 from 35 balls.
Stokes destroyed the innings with his medium pace, claiming four for 27 from three overs.
Batting at number seven, Brathwaite managed only four while fellow Barbadian all-rounder Jacob Bethel, 17, scored two.
Bears have slipped to fifth on nine points in the North Group headed by Yorkshire, with Durham third on 11 points.
Sent in, Durham lost both openers cheaply but Australian Bancroft and Stokes rallied the innings in a stand of 61 for the third wicket.
While Bancroft struck six fours and two sixes, all-rounder Stokes belted a couple of fours and three sixes before becoming the first of Brathwaite’s three wickets, holing out to deep long on in the 10th over, one delivery after getting a boundary to extra cover.
Bancroft eventually fell in the 18th over at 139 for six and Brathwaite struck twice in the penultimate over, to stall Durham’s innings.
Bears’ run chase started shakily when they slipped to 44 for three in the sixth over before Rhodes and Lamb added 36 for the fourth to stem the tide.
Rhodes had belted five fours and two sixes when he perished via the run out route in the 11th over, and Brathwaite was one of the last seven wickets to tumble for 50 runs as Bears ran out of steam.
Brathwaite was sixth out at the start of the 16tth over with the score on 109, bowled missing a sweep at a straight one from leg-spinner Scott Borthwick.
Bethell, a left-arm spinning all-rounder, was ninth out in the 18th over at 128, holing out in the off side.
