Wins for Falcons & Bears in T20 Blast at Edgbaston

Rival captains Samit Patel and Peter Handscomb both hit half-centuries at Edgbaston

Derbyshire Falcons and Birmingham Bears were victorious on T20 Blast-Off Day at Edgbaston.

In the first of a double bill in Birmingham, the Falcons needed the help of two of the game's oldest heads as they beat Leicestershire Foxes by four wickets before the Bears polished off Notts Outlaws by 22 runs.

A century stand between 40-year-old Wayne Madsen and 39-year-old Samit Patel, on only his second Derbyshire appearance following his release by Notts, helped the Falcons win with five balls to spare.

Notts then showed how much they might still miss former England all-rounder Patel as they stumbled in pursuit of chasing a modest 150 against the Bears.

It means that the Bears and Northants are the only two teams to win their opening two games in North Group. But really this was Patel's day.

After Leicestershire skipper Peter Handscomb had hit an unbeaten 75, the Foxes rallied from 97-6 to post a competitive 176-6.

But, although Derbyshire stumbled to 31-3, Patel (64) and Madsen shared a 102-run fourth-wicket stand to reach 178-6 and secure a first win at the second attempt in this year's competition as joint-record three-times T20 winners Leicestershire suffered a first defeat.

"We did well to get a competitive score on the board," said Handscomb, "We got probably 16 more than we thought was the par score here. But Samit batted beautifully and also did a really good job for them with the ball. It was just a great all-round performance."

The Foxes got off to a dodgy start when Zak Chappell removed Sol Budinger for a golden duck to the third ball of the match, quickly followed by Pat Brown's dismissal of Rishi Patel in the third over.

It was the cue for a nice touch from paceman Brown on the ground where he won the T20 with Worcestershire six years ago - as he lifted his shirt to reveal a T-shirt with a number 33 on it, as a tribute to his late former team-mate Josh Baker.

Brown added a second wicket, as did Chappell, while Patel's agelessly fiendish spin also brought him two to leave the Foxes in trouble midway through the 13th over.

But Derbyshire did not manage another breakthrough as Australia Test player Handscomb and England all-rounder Rehan Ahmed turned things with a stand of 79 in 45 balls.

In reply, it was a similar story as the Falcons initially faltered, Luis Reece, David Lloyd and Harry Came all departing cheaply.

But Patel in particular exploited the short boundary with a series of big legside blows in his four fours and five sixes. And, although he and Madsen both departed with victory in sight, Brooke Guest's quick 20 got the job done.

Buoyant Bears too good for Notts

After Patel's earlier efforts, and despite a fair few more seats in the 13,784 crowd being filled by 18:30 blast-off time, there was a risk that the day's second game might play second fiddle.

And, following Friday night's win on the road against Durham, it turned out to be a comfortable victory for the Bears, T20 winners for the only time here in 2014, over Notts, who lifted the trophy in 2017 and 2020.

Having made 200 almost a par score in home T20 games in 2023, the Bears fell way short, bowled out in the 20th over for 149 - and that was chiefly down to the efforts of Rob Yates, who again belied his reputation as a red-ball specialist with four sixes in his 68.

England's Olly Stone, with three wickets against his old club, and Luke Fletcher, with 2-19 from four overs, did the majority of the damage.

That brought together Worcestershire old boys Joe Clarke and former England record breaker Alex Hales at the top of the Notts order.

They calmly put on 54 for the opening wicket before Clarke perished to the penultimate ball of the sixth over, then another of Notts' former Pears, Jack Haynes, tried to turn spinner Danny Briggs on the leg side and gave a leading edge back to the bowler, who also accounted for Will Young.

Hales then picked out Dan Mousley at long-off to give Jake Lintott his first wicket to hasten Notts' slide from 54-0 to 71-4.

Tom Moores went to a superb low one-handed diving catch from Jacob Bethell on the deep extra cover boundary - and Lintott struck again to have Lyndon James rather scruffily caught behind.

From then on, the end was nigh, although it took another stunning catch from Yates to finish it as spinner Mousley closed the contest with wickets from successive balls.

Sunday fixtures

Old Trafford: Lancashire Lightning v Derbyshire Falcons (12:00)

Southampton: Hampshire Hawks v Kent Spitfires (13:00)

Cardiff: Glamorgan v Sussex Sharks (14:30)

Northampton: Northants Steelbacks v Yorkshire Vikings (15:30)

Chelmsford: Essex v Middlesex (16:00)

The Oval: Surrey v Somerset (18:00)

(Start times BST)