Blast Preview: Bears v Durham

Birmingham Bears will face Durham at Edgbaston on Saturday as part of a mouth-watering T20 double-header along with Central Sparks taking on Southern Vipers.

The Bears will face Durham at 2.30pm, a match for which all tickets are sold, before the women take centre stage at 6.30pm when the Sparks, having made a strong start to their Rachael Heyhoe-Flint (50 over) campaign, launch their Charlotte Edwards Cup trail.

Before the women open their T20 programme, the men will face Durham aiming to bounce back from the blip of successive defeats, at Durham last Sunday and at home to Derbyshire Falcons last night.

The five-wicket defeat to the Falcons arrived despite a thrilling 21-ball 46 from opening batsman Ed Pollock. It was an innings which threatened to take the game away from the Falcons until ending in unlucky fashion...courtesy of a broken bat.

"I looked down afterwards and my bat had split completely," Pollock said. "It was a half-volley and I thought 'I've hit that quite nicely' and then looked down and my bat was almost in two pieces.

"I've got a spare one, of course, but I'll be on to the manufacturer to get another one on the way.

"All round, it was just one of those nights for us. T20 is a game of fine margins and last night those margins went against us. We ask guys to play positively and Lamby hit a fielder and Hosey hit a fielder and, if they miss the fielders they go on to make a score. But then later on Tom Wood batted really well but just cleared the fielders a few times and then went on to get them over the line. That's the way it goes in T20.

"There's no need to panic. We are in still a good position in the group and have a quick chance to bounce back tomorrow. Games come thick and fast and we've got three more at home on the bounce now and a couple of wins will keep us in a strong position.

The Bears have named an unchanged 13-man squad from Thursday. Their spin attack remains disrupted with Jake Lintott ruled out by COVID (he finished self-isolation on Monday so, all being well, be available after that) and Dan Mousley is out for up to six weeks with a broken finger.

Rob Yates is back in training following illness but not yet match ready, while Henry Brookes today had another scan on his troublesome thigh. England paceman Olly Stone is out for the season with a stress fracture in his back while it is not known whether Chris Woakes will be released by England to play any more T20 group games.

Squad

Will Rhodes (C), Carlos Brathwaite, Jacob Bethell, Tim Bresnan, Danny Briggs, Michael Burgess, Sam Hain, Adam Hose, Matt Lamb, Pieter Malan, Craig Miles, Liam Norwell, Ed Pollock

How to follow

With Saturday’s double header officially sold out, Bears Members and supporters can follow the Club from home via the Match Centre on edgbaston.com and through the Edgbaston app (available for free on iOS and Android).