Birmingham Bears have moved back to the top of the T20 Blast North Group courtesy of a thrilling one-run victory over Northants Steelbacks at Edgbaston this evening.
The visitors, who would have qualified for the quarter-finals with a victory, won the toss but elected to field first, which appeared to be a bad decision when the Bears raced to an opening partnership of 57.
Brendon McCullum finally fell having made 26, while Tom Lewis added 16 more to the total before also being sent back to the pavilion by Steven Crook.
The Northants bowler then got his third wicket of the night when he removed Varun Chopra for 52, and Laurie Evans followed not long after to leave Birmingham 128-4.
Rikki Clarke (14), Ateeq Javid (7*) and Jeetan Patel (11*) then added some valuable runs late in the innings to set a target of 155 for the Steelbacks.
Their chase got off to a poor start when David Willey fell for just two off four balls, while Richard Levi (15) and Ben Duckett (4) followed quickly to leave the visitors in trouble on 30-3.
Josh Cobb (21) and Alex Wakeley steadied the innings, however, with the latter finishing not out on 51 off just 42 deliveries.
However, the likes of Crook (9) and Adam Rossington (12) were unable to give him adequate support and, while Rory Kleinveldt weighed in with a late 29 off 11 balls, it was not enough as the Steelbacks missed out by a solitary run.
The result means that Birmingham will play their quarter-final clash at Edgbaston.
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