Evans' Heroics Overcomes The Vikings

Ably assisted by an unbroken partnership of 65 with Ateeq Javid, Laurie Evans rescued the flagging fortunes of Birmingham Bears, and in the process this duo's late show kept alive the Warwickshire team's hopes of qualifying for the last eight of the Twenty20 Blast. Their eleventh hour intervention is also some consolation to the west Midlanders who have recently been trounced twice by Yorkshire in the Country Championship.

Earlier, Andrew Gale had sensibly chosen to bat first, but it took a fine unbeaten partnership between Tim Bresnan and Adil Rashid to ensure that the hosts provided a competitive total, although the target proved to be about fifteen runs short. When the home team did bat, the under-achieving Aaron Finch again failed to produce a substantial innings. Meanwhile just as Kane Williamson threatened to cut loose, he became the first of three hat trick victims for the impressive Jeetan Patel who duly clean bowled the hapless duo of Gale and Lyth with successive deliveries to record the landmark of three wickets with three consecutive deliveries.

After such excitement, the momentum appeared to swing firmly towards the Vikings as they batted well in the final overs and then proceeded to chip away at the Bears' batting order. In fact, the men from Warwickshire were struggling to get near the 148 target, but in spite of requiring 38 runs from three overs, Evans succeeded in pulling a rabbit out of the hat. His innings consisted of nine fours and two sixes from forty-three balls. None of the Yorkshire attack bowled badly, although it was Sidebottom who both took most wickets and crucially conceded most runs.

This narrow win breathes life into the hopes of Birmingham Bears, but if the Vikings can redeem themselves with a home win in their last group match against Nottinghamshire next Friday, then the efforts of Evans and Patel will have been in vain. The Vikings should still qualify for the quarter finals, but they are making hard work of the task. The Bears meanwhile must win next Friday and hope that there is further Headingley heartache for the Tykes.

YORKSHIRE VIKINGS versus Birmingham Bears; at Leeds; Friday 18th July 2014. YORKSHIRE VIKINGS won the toss.

YORKSHIRE VIKINGS: 147 for six off 20 overs (Patel 4-19)

Birmingham Bears: 148 for five off 19.4 overs (Evans 69*)

Birmingham Bears won by five wickets. YORKSHIRE VIKINGS 0 points, Birmingham Bears 2 points.