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Jon Culley
Nottinghamshire 184 for 4 (Clarke 50, Moores 69) beat Birmingham 113 (Carter 3-14, Wood 3-16) by 71 runs
Having blamed dropped catches for their first defeat of the season at Northampton last week, Birmingham Bears counted the cost of another mistake in the field as they allowed Nottinghamshire to build a total that they never threatened to overhaul.
Liam Banks’s failure to take a routine chance at long-off allowed Tom Moores to underline what a dangerous batsman he is becoming in this format, advancing from 16 to 69 as the home side turned what was shaping up as a modest return for opting to bat first into something far more challenging.
A crowd of just over 12,000 – the third of that size in four Vitality Blast matches at Trent Bridge so far – then watched a spin-heavy Nottinghamshire bowling attack impose such a crushing grip on Birmingham’s attempt to put some momentum into the chase that the cause looked lost a long way before the end.
No one was more impressive than the tall off-spinner Matt Carter, only now becoming a regular part of Nottinghamshire’s T20 side, who took three wickets in his four overs at a cost of just 14 runs, conceding only one boundary and claiming the rare distinction of a wicket-maiden.
Carter, into the action in the second over, bowled Ed Pollock with his fifth ball as the opener went to sweep. Only two runs came off the over and although it was the only wicket to fall in the Powerplay overs, after which Birmingham were still in the contest, a standard had been set for the senior spinners – the Pakistan left-armer Wasim Imad and Trent Bridge stalwart Samit Patel – to follow.
At the halfway point, Birmingham still trailed by 112 runs and thereafter every batsman who tried to inject momentum into the chase quickly perished in act. Nottinghamshire’s fielding was exemplary, Joe Clarke, Ben Duckett and Luke Wood all taking fine boundary catches.
Carter, 23, has had to work hard to claim a place in a Nottinghamshire team in which spin has not always been a major component, so for him it was an especially gratifying night.
“It has been tough,” he said. “I had two games last season in which I felt I did pretty well and I have worked hard during the winter to get my T20 bowling into full swing and it is paying off, so I’m well pleased.
“It was the best I have bowled in T20, especially against good players in front of a big crowd. I feel like I have a role in the team now and nine times out of 10 it seems to be paying off, so it gives me a lot of confidence going forward.
“It was a good enough wicket but as a group I think the spinners all bowled really well on it, did not give them much to hit and the balls they did want to hit they ended up they got out to. As a unit I think we were brilliant tonight.”
The Moores escape came in the 12th over, when Nottinghamshire themselves were struggling to put their foot to the floor after reaching halfway at 72 for two.
The wicketkeeper-batsman has shown himself more than once to be a dangerous opponent in this format, but he should have been comfortably caught at long-off for 16 when he sent the ball looping skywards off a Will Rhodes full toss in the last over of the Powerplay, only for Banks to let the ball slip through his grasp.
Had it stuck, it might have been a different story, not least because Birmingham did dislodge Joe Clarke, whose half-century sent out another signal of a return to form for the England Lions batsman after his recent troubled times, in the next over.
The 20-year-old Banks, fielding at midwicket earlier, had misjudged the flight of a miscued pull by Alex Hales, letting another of the home side’s trump cards off the hook. That one was less costly, Hales falling in the same Henry Brookes over with only four runs added.
Moores was not so kind. Three balls later, he crashed a wide half-volley from Rhodes over cover for the second of his six sixes and his destructive mood gathered momentum from there.
At the height of his assault, he plundered 30 runs from nine deliveries, lofting Jeetan Patel for consecutive sixes over the midwicket boundary before taking 17 off Ashton Agar in a single over, including a four off the toe of the bat through the legs of wicketkeeper Ben Burgess.
Using his feet well against the slow bowlers, he reached 50 from just 27 deliveries. His luck ran out on 69, two overs from the end of a Nottinghamshire innings that proved much more profitable had looked likely at one stage. His six sixes took his career tally to 50.
“I struggled early on in the innings but Joe helped me through, he is so calm at the crease,” Clarke said. “I was just pleased to contribute to a win.
“We gave to go to Old Trafford tomorrow, which will be a tough game, but we felt it was a complete performance tonight.”