Birmingham Bears’ 2014 Twenty20 title winning year has been voted as the supporters’ favourite ever Bears Blast moment.
In a vote on @BearsT20, the victory over Lancashire Lighting in the 2014 final at Edgbaston was selected as the fans’ favourite Birmingham Bears Twenty20 moment, receiving 37% of the vote.
It narrowly beat Brendon McCullum’s record-breaking 158 not out against Derbyshire in 2015, which had 35% of the vote. The quarter-final win against Surrey at the Kia Oval in 2017 was third with 18% and Bell’s 131 in 2018 had 10%.
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Bears crowned 2014 T20 champions
Both sides went into the 2014 final looking to win their first domestic Twenty20 crown.
The Bears lost the inaugural final to Surrey in 2003 and Lancashire were beaten by Somerset two years later.
The inclusion of Flintoff for the injured Kabir Ali after ending his four-year retirement from the game that summer added an extra frisson of excitement to the contest.
Varun Chopra (30) and William Porterfield (31) helped the Bears recover from a slow start. Rikki Clarke then made 27 before Laurie Evans and Chris Woakes added 63 in five and a half overs to see the Bears post 181-5.
Woakes ended the innings with two successive fours off James Anderson, whose four wicketless overs cost him 52 runs.
https://twitter.com/BearsT20/status/1104760671537905665
Lancashire, needing to make a then record T20 final score if they were to triumph, made a useful start before Smith (19) was caught after getting a leading edge to a ball from Woakes.
Ashwell Prince then played on to Boyd Rankin after making 30. Hannon-Dalby claimed the vital wicket of England’s Jos Buttler, caught behind for 11.
Brown hit 55 before he was bowled by Woakes (2-34), allowing Flintoff to belatedly stride to the middle at number nine, they seemingly had too much to do.
But, in a show of typical ‘Freddie’ theatrics, the 36-year-old biffed his side back into the game, needing 14 from the final over. But Woakes showed his quality to see the Bears to victory by four runs.
Tickets on sale now at birminghambears.com, over the phone by calling 0121 369 1994 (option 1) or in person at Edgbaston Stadium.
