Zaib's relief as Steelbacks hold nerve to beat Bears and book last-eight clash in Blast

John Sadler's side went into Thursday night's clash with North Group leaders Birmingham Bears knowing a win would seal a first qualification to the knockout stages since 2020, and just the second time since they won the competition in 2016.

They got there by seeing off the Bears by 11 runs after yet another final-over thriller at Wantage Road, with Sam Hain's scintillating 93 from 60 balls almost pulling off what would have been a remarkable win for the visitors.

Zaib's outstanding 86 from just 41 balls, hitting eight fours and six sixes, was the backbone of the Steelbacks' 197 for six after being asked to bat by Bears skipper Alex Davies, with Lewis McManus's 22 from just 10 balls also proving crucial.

When the Bears then slid to 11 for three after two overs of their reply, with skipper David Willey taking two wickets in the first over, including that of England star Moeen Ali for a first-ball duck, it looked as though the Steelbacks might for once make life easy for themselves.

But a hard-hitting 50 from Jacob Bethell and Hain's superb innings meant it went down to the wire, with 12 needed off the final two balls which much to the Steelbacks' relief yielded no runs, with Jack White snaring the wicket of Hain with the final delivery.

It was the latest in a series of nerve-jangling finishes in this season's Blast at Wantage Road, and Zaib was relieved to get over the line and seal a place in the quarter-finals with a game to spare.

"It's not good for the heart, I am not going to lie," admitted Zaib. "The thing is in T20 cricket it is never over until it's over, the game is so volatile.

"It is nice to get that win ticked off, because when they needed 12 off two I was still a little bit nervy, but luckily we got over the line."

And on that last-eight qualification, he said: "The last few years have been a bit frustrating, we have had some close calls without qualifying.

"But it is nice to qualify with a game in hand and hopefully we can now push our case and get to finals day."

Zaib's innings was a gem.

With his team-mate struggling to find any sort of timing, he was into the groove straight away, hitting the ball to all four corners of the ground.

So how did he feel while he was out there?

"To be honest, I was just thinking 'let's get as many as we can'," he said.

"It was a wicket that was doing a little bit, and if we got early wickets, which we did, we knew it would stem their flow a little bit.

"The Bears are quite a powerful batting line-up, so luckily we ripped through a few of them early, but Sam Hain is pretty good isn't he?

"He always scores runs against us, and it's always annoying to watch him score runs, but to get over the line was amazing."

The Steelbacks are up to third in the North Group and now travel to Old Trafford on Friday night to take on second-placed Lancashire Lightning.

The team travelled to the north west straight after the win over the Bears, but they will turn up in Manchester knowing a win will seal second place and a home tie in the last eight.And that, says Zaib, is the Steelbacks' target.

"Playing here with a full crowd is pretty special, and hopefully we can win tomorrow, but it is a pretty tough schedule I'm not going to lie, with us travelling up tonight," he said.

"But it's what we play for, we want to play in a home quarter-final so we will be going out all guns blazing."