Maddy sees the Bears home

• 04/06/2010

The Warwickshire Bears began their Friends Provident T20 campaign with a comprehensive 8 wicket victory over the Northamptonshire Steelbacks at Edgbaston

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The Warwickshire Bears launched their 2010 Twenty20 season with a bang at Edgbaston when they inflicted a heavy defeat on visitors, the Northamptonshire Steelbacks, by 8 wickets in front of an enthusiastic sun-baked crowd.

The Steelbacks won the toss and chose to bat and their opening pair of Loye and O’Brien got them off to a perfect start, with both men taking advantage of some width from Chris Woakes and Keith Barker, posting a half century opening stand before the introduction of Imran Tahir at the City End saw O’Brien 29 well caught by Botha at extra cover with the total on sixty five in only the eighth over.
Former Steelbacks’ skipper Nicky Boje 7, was stumped by Johnson and the leg-spinner then bowled Loye 54 with his top spinner as the Steelbacks innings started to lose momentum.
Carter and Botha picked up the wickets of White and Wakely and the boundary flow had been plugged by the Bears’ bowlers, as the innings closed on 147-5 from their twenty overs.
Imran Tahir finished with 3-14 from his four overs.

In reply Neil Carter 12, was run out by a direct hit from Boje, but Darren Maddy, playing in his first Twenty20 match for almost 2 years and Jim Troughton launched a blistering attack against all of the bowlers, posting a partnership of 116 runs from just fifty nine balls that put the Bears into a match winning position.
Maddy was finally out for a superb eighty eight made off forty two deliveries and including eleven fours and six sixes with the winning line in sight, but Troughton 41* and Chopra 10* made no mistake as the Bears completed their first victory of the season by a commanding eight wickets, with a massive thirty five balls in hand.