Kent Spitfires 162/7 beat Birmingham Bears 141 by 21 runs
Destructive Daniel
The short boundary at The Spitfire Ground can be mighty dangerous for bowlers if you get it wrong. That's exactly what happened to Birmingham Bears against Daniel Bell-Drummond. The Kent Spitfires opener targeted it on three occasions with the slog sweep, and nailed it every time. He made 53, before...
Sweeeeeeeeep @deebzz23 ๐งน
โ Vitality Blast (@VitalityBlast) August 27, 2021
The @KentCricket opener has 50 and is batting beautifully tonight ๐#Blast21 pic.twitter.com/krewoRsbur
Lightning Lintott
...some remarkable awareness from Jake Lintott! Bell-Drummond was backing up when Sam Billings struck a ball straight back at the non-striker's end stumps. Lintott recovered the ball and leapt to remove the remaining stumps. Exceptional work from the left-arm wrist-spinner.
Run out at the non-strikers endโฆ with a difference!@lintott23 with one of the more unusual wickets youโll see ๐ง#Blast21 pic.twitter.com/lCIdxWTfxE
โ Vitality Blast (@VitalityBlast) August 27, 2021
Billings Bliss
It looked a tough pitch to score on in Canterbury, and so it was important someone get in and get themselves going. Step up Kent captain Sam Billings, who found himself with 16 from 14 but accelerated and finished with 56 from 37. It was by no means the most fluent of knocks but Billings read the situation and took charge to get his team up to a very competitive total.
Bowling Masterclass
Kent's 162 was more than enough to earn them a place at Finals Day. Runs on the board worked in their favour - despite Birmingham winning the toss - and with the wickets of Adam Hose and Chris Benjamin in the Powerplay, the visitors couldn't get going. Jake Lintott eventually did, scoring 41 - more than he'd scored in all T20 matches previously - but it was too little, too late for the Bears.
Wicket.
โ Bears ๐ (@WarwickshireCCC) August 27, 2021
Lintott departs for an excellent 41 (20 balls).
Bears 138/8 and need 25 runs from 6 balls.
Match Centre ๐ฅ https://t.co/C7J61nTOwW
๐ป#YouBears | #KENvBIR pic.twitter.com/Irl9fq8PbC
To Finals Day!
So we have our semi-finalists, and for the first time in the history of the Blast, we have an all-South Group Finals Day!ย
We have our Finals Day line-up ๐
โ Vitality Blast (@VitalityBlast) August 27, 2021
Who wins? #Blast21 pic.twitter.com/SHGweJdjo4