Bears take down Falcons to secure home quarter-final

Birmingham Bears booked a home quarter-final in the Vitality Blast by comfortably beating Derbyshire Falcons by 44 runs at Edgbaston.

Bears piled up 198 for 2 thanks to powerful half-centuries from Dan Mousley, Sam Hain and Moeen Ali.

A modest start (21 from four overs) turned into a daunting total of which Falcons fell well short at 154 all out from 19.2 overs. No-one passed 30 as spinners Danny Briggs and Jake Lintott dismantled the top and middle orders to take their combined T20 wicket tally to 379.

Bears can now look forward to a home tie in the last eight in which they will aim to avoid the choke which has afflicted them at that stage in the last three seasons. Despite this damaging defeat, Falcons can still qualify but are under pressure to win their last two games, starting at Worcester next Thursday.

Put in, Bears made a subdued start, taking just seven runs from the first 15 balls. Mohammad Amir produced a beauty to have Alex Davies caught behind and Bears hit only four fours in the powerplay which they ended on 41 for 1.

Moeen than exploded into aggression. Having meandered to 25 from 23 balls, he thundered to 50 in just another five with four sixes in five balls off Samit Patel and Alex Thomson. Pat Brown unfurled a clever slower ball which Moeen gloved behind but the impetus created by the captain was emphatically taken up by Mousley and Hain in an unbroken third-wicket partnership of 111 in 62 balls.

Mousley reached his eighth T20 half-century, and second in successive games, from 39 balls. Hain followed to his 33rd T20 half-century from 29 balls, one of which was smashed for arguably the most glorious six in the history of T20, over extra cover off Amir.

Falcons enjoyed a strong powerplay, reaching 60 for 1 for the loss of Luis Reece, who skied George Garton to mid-on, but thereafter the scoreboard pressure took its toll.

David Lloyd lifted his first ball for six but was bamboozled and bowled by Briggs' first ball. Lintott also struck in his first over when Aneurin Donald sought the crowd over long-off but found only Mousley just inside the boundary.

Wayne Madsen and Patel have the talent to tackle the biggest chases but when they perished in the space of four balls Falcons' challenge was over. Patel hit three sixes on his way to 28 but then sliced Lintott to extra cover. Hain collected that catch and was there again when Madsen lifted a drive at Briggs.

The potentially destructive Ross Whiteley fell lbw slog-sweeping at Briggs and Falcons drifted further and further behind the required rate in a fixture that it unlikely to feature on the back pages of tomorrow's papers.