Zaib stars with the bat as Steelbacks beat Bears to clinch Vitality Blast quarter-final spot

Northants claimed a nail-biting 11-run over North Group table-toppers Birmingham Bears at the County Ground on Thursday night, and will be competing in the knockout stages for the first time since 2020.

They now travel to Lancashire Lightning on Friday knowing a win at Old Trafford will secure a home tie.

Saif Zaib hit a brilliant 86 from 41 balls for the Steelbacks as they posted a testing 197 for six, and when the Bears were reduced to 11 for three it looked like the game was done.

But Sam Hain hit a stunning 93 from 60 balls to take the match to the final over.

The visitors needed 25 from the final six balls, and Hain kept them in the hunt as they needed 12 from the final two balls - but he failed to score off the penultimate ball and was then dismissed off the last as Northants clinched the win.

The Steelbacks made one change to the team that won at Durham on Sunday, with Ricardo Vasconcelos coming into the team for George Bartlett - but his contribution with the bat was to prove a minimal one.

After the Bears won the toss and bowled, the left-hander lasted just three balls before he clipped George Garton straight to Craig Miles at deep square leg, and the Steelbacks were nought for one.

On a green-tinged pitch, Matthew Breetzke and David Willey were sturggling to time the ball, with just three boundaries being hit in the powerplay which ended with Northants 40 for one.

Willey went two balls later trying to hammer Danny Briggs for a six, but instead picked out Miles on the deep mid-wicket boundary who took the catch and it was 41 for two.

Enter Saif Zaib, who had no issues with his timing, straight away delicately cutting the first three balls of the eighth over bowled by Miles for four.

He hit the first six of the match in in the ninth over, and by the halfway point had boosted the Steelbacks to 78 for three, the setback being Breetzke perishing in the 10th, slicing a Jake Lintott delivery to Moeen Ali at point to go for a scratchy 21 off 23 balls.

Zaib continued to make things look easy, and brought up his 50 in the 14th over, beautifully dispatching Lintott over extra cover for four.

He followed it up with a further boundary and a six over deep square leg, and after 14 overs the Steelbacks were looking in decent shape at 124 for three.

Zaib continued to make batting look easy, hitting the ball to all parts, as the Steelbacks eased to 148 for three in the 17th before Bopara was dismissed for 19.

There was no stopping Zaib though, who two balls later thrashed Briggs over mid-wicket for six - with superfan Wendell fluffing his lines as he dropped the catch in the crowd!

That was sadly to be the last of the fun for the left-hander, as he spooned a catch to extra cover to go for a magnificent 86.

The runs continued to flow though, with Lewis McManus, Ashton Agara and Gus Miller producing some big hits to see the Steelbacks to a competitive 197 for six.

And that total was looking even better after the first over the Bears' reply, with Willey roaring in to have Moeen and Dan Mousley caught behind to leave the visitors reeling at one for two.

Things got even better off the last ball of the second over as Alex Davies played on to Ben Sanderson and the Bears were in deep trouble at 11 for three.

Sam Hain and Jacob Bethell then stopped the rot and were soon playing some big shots, so that by the close of the powerplay they had progressed to 48 for three.

The pair were finding their range and taking a liking to the Steelbacks attack, with Bethell in particular producing some massive hits, and continued to drag their team back into the game.

By the halfway point the Bears were well in the hunt and at 103 for three in the 12th they were looking in control.

Bethell had just passed 50 when he was out though, top edging a Bopara delivery to Jack White at short third-man, and he claimed a brilliant two-handed catch high to his right.

That left the Bears 103 for four, and it was soon five down as Chris Benjamin was out for a single, hitting an Agar delivery straight to Vasconcelos at deep square-leg to make it 106 for five.

The clean-hitting Hain, who brought up his 50 in the 14th over, was still there though, and the Bears kept ticking along at the required rate of 11 runs per over.

Bears went into the last four overs needing 60 to win, and knew a couple of big overs would see them home, while the Steelbacks needed wickets.

Some disciplined bowling, and one superb piece of fielding on the boundary by Agar that turned a six into a single, meant the Bears needed 25 off the final over bowled by White.

Northants had once again missed the cut-off time though, and had to bring an extra fielder into the inner ring.

Just three came off the first two balls, but that brought Hain on to strike and he hit a six and four to bring it down to 12 runs needed from two balls.

The penultimate ball saw White drop a difficult caught and bowled chance off Hain, but he got his man with the final ball, the Bears man dismissed for 93 as the Steelbacks won by 11 runs.