T20 Blast: Jeetan Patel helps Birmingham Bears beat Yorkshire

Patel is one of four Bears players to have claimed a T20 hat-trick

Jeetan Patel took a hat-trick for Birmingham Bears as his side kept their T20 Blast quarter-final hopes alive with a five-wicket win at Yorkshire.

The New Zealand spinner removed Kane Williamson, Andrew Gale and Adam Lyth in the ninth over to leave the Vikings 69-5, before Tim Bresnan's 45 not out helped the hosts recover to 147-6.

The Bears were wobbling on 40-4 as Ryan Sidebottom took two early wickets.

But Laurie Evans smashed 69 not out off 43 balls to see the visitors home.

Patel, who is now the competition's joint leading wicket taker with 21 scalps, began his hat-trick by trapping fellow New Zealander Williamson lbw for 24, before bowling both Vikings captain Gale and Lyth first ball.

After Jonny Bairstow fell for 12 with the score on 79-6, Yorkshire seemed to be facing a battle to see out their 20 overs, but Bresnan and Rashid (29 not out) had other ideas as they shared an unbroken stand of 68 to give the home side some hope.

The Bears' chase saw in-form William Porterfield dismissed by Bresnan cheaply and veteran seamer Sidebottom continued the good work by removing Jonathon Webb and Tim Ambrose in successive overs, before skipper Varun Chopra quickly followed them back into the pavilion.

A brief cameo from Rikki Clarke (23) forged a slight recovery, but when he fell to leave the visitors 83-5 with less than eight overs remaining, the game seemed to be slipping away.

However, 26-year-old Evans blasted nine fours and two sixes as he shared an unbeaten partnership of 65 with Ateeq Javid (18 not out) to lead the Bears to victory with two balls to spare.

BBC Radio Leeds's Dave Callaghan:

"Yorkshire now face a fight to qualify in the quarter-finals of the T20. Splendid batting from Lawrie Evans with 69 not out gave the Birmingham Bears a win by five wickets in the last over.

"Earlier Jeetan Patel had been the hero for the visitors with a hat-trick to rip the heart out of the Yorkshire batting.

"Tim Bresnan with an unbeaten 45 and Adil Rashid with 29 not out had steered the score to 147 for 6.

"Warwickshire looked to be out of it until Evans took over with an innings of quality and innovation."