- June 1, 2025
The Vitality Blast is in full swing, and Durham could not have asked for a better start. While some teams will ease their way into the tournament, Durham showed up like a team that had something to prove, scattering Edgbaston and putting the Birmingham Bears’ top order in disarray. In a game that had all the elements from clinical bowling to composed finishing, Durham sent a clear message to the other teams in the North group with an emphatic seven-wicket win – we can be dangerous.
Top-Order Carnage: Bears Left in Ruins Early
Powerplays don’t win matches—they can, however, lose them, and that’s exactly what happened with the Bears. Just 17 balls into their innings, the Bears were in trouble at 4 for 3. It was dramatic and disastrous. Callum Parkinson started with a dream first over, taking out Alex Davies and Tom Latham in the space of a ball. Zak Foulkes joined the fun and sent back Moeen Ali cheaply. Suddenly, the Bears were looking at a scoreboard that resembled a wi-fi password.
The collapse was no accident; it was the sum of disciplined bowling, clever field placements, and a well-thought-out game plan. Parkinson’s two wickets set the tone, while Neesham, Raine, Sowter, and Foulkes applied sufficient pressure to make it feel like they were batting in a vice. Sam Hain’s knock of 45 off 28 balls was the only semblance of resistance, but without a platform beneath him, it was never going to be enough.
Durham’s Balanced Attack Shows Intent
T20 cricket often rewards those who play with a degree of flamboyance, but Durham won by executing their plans with precision and purpose. What was pleasing was not so much the early wickets, but how expertly Alex Lees handled the bowling changes. Jimmy Neesham, the experienced Kiwi, was a standout bowler for me in the middle overs, picking up 3 for 3,4, including the key wicket of Hain. Nathan Sowter’s subtle differences and Ben Raine’s aggression both proved fruitful, capturing two wickets apiece.
I’ve got a feeling most people won’t give Zak Foulkes the credit he deserves. After a horrible memory of Edgbaston from last year, he had returned with a very tidy spell of 4-0-18-1. It was bowling that offered no gifts, backed by alert fielding and game-sense to stay on top in the match. The Bears had pretty much any space to operate within the Durham attack.
Robinson, Clark Anchor the Chase with Maturity
Although chasing 144 might be reasonably easy on paper, you never know what might happen – early wickets and all that could have made things a bit more difficult. Nonetheless, Robinson and Clark built an innings with calmness and aggression, they didn’t panic at any point. Clark quickly set the pace for his innings, knocking 40 off 23 balls, putting the ball into gaps, and putting away the bad balls. Robinson played the ideal anchor role with 45 off 36 balls, brilliantly pacing the innings.
Yes, there was some trouble (Moeen Ali and Ed Barnard picked up a couple of big middle-order wickets), but Durham never looked like they were panicking, or anything like that. And when Robinson and ex-Bear Will Rhodes would calmly put the finishing touches on a partnership to complete the job, you could sense it was a sweet moment of personal revenge to find the boundary against a team that was too often overlooking him. Revenge? Probably not. Statement? Yes.
Will they be able to sustain this intensity throughout the tournament? Will the Bears be able to recover from this bruising loss, and particularly their back-to-back losses? One thing is for sure: we are heating up early in Blast 2024.
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