HASSAN Ali will go up against a familiar face as Bears try to end Northants Steelbacks’ 100 per cent start to the Vitality Blast season on Wednesday.
He goes to Northampton on the back of Sunday’s six wicket haul in the win over Derbyshire Falcons – which included a memorable hat-trick.
After losing their opening two matches, the Bears completed two comprehensive victories over Yorkshire Vikings and Derbyshire to kick-start their Blast campaign and climb to fifth in the table.
Hassan was the star of the weekend, taking 6/23 against the Falcons on Sunday, including a hat-trick, the first of his T20 career, and fifth by a Bear in this format.
His stellar performance powered the Bears to a dominant 58 victory over the Falcons, who have now lost all of their first four matches.
Hassan spoke to the Bears’ official website about the Northants clash and said: “I’ve never played T20 cricket there, only warm-ups or four-day games.
“I’ll also be playing against my head coach at the Karachi Kings, Ravi Bopara. So, I’m looking forward to the trip.”
But Hassan’s display with the ball on Sunday is still a major talking point.
He added: “After I got the two wickets, I spoke with Tom Latham and we were making a plan of what to bowl. I looked at the batter, and saw that he was standing on the leg side of the ball, so I should go for the yorker.
“At the end of the day, we succeeded in winning, and I got my first hat-trick in T20.”
Alex Davies had led from the front in helping the Bears to secure their first victory of the Blast season, a calm and composed six-wicket victory over the Vikings.
In pursuit of 168, Davies and Tom Latham put on an opening stand of 103 to break the back of the chase, with the Bears boasting a more than deep enough batting line-up to cruise home to victory.
Northants have got their own outstanding performers, with Ben Sanderson registering a staggering spell of four overs, six wickets for just eigth runs against the Worcestershire Rapids, including a hat-trick to finish the game off.
They are five from five in the Blast and have been in imperious form this season.
They posted a gargantuan 237/4 against the Vikings in the first round before skittling the Foxes for a measly 122 in the second round.
Bopara then rolled back the years against the Falcons, striking 84 from 46 balls, to power them up to 194/6, eventually winning by six runs.
This was followed by Sanderson’s destruction of the Rapids, and on Sunday, they efficiently dispatched Lancashire Lightning by 24 runs, thanks largely to George Scrimshaw’s 4/19, which all but ended the contest.
The Bears will be looking to maintain their momentum by taking down the league leaders before heading to Headingley to face the Vikings exactly a week on from their victory over them at Edgbaston.
