Birmingham Bears and Lancashire Lightning were the inaugural Blast-Off winners at Edgbaston on the double-bill opening day of the new T20 campaign.
Lancs became the first T20 winners of 2023 as hard-hitting opener Luke Wells inspired them to a four-wicket win over Derbyshire in sun-kissed Birmingham.
In the second of the day’s two matches, the Bears then polished off Yorkshire.
Unsung England Lions batter Sam Hain hit a superb 83 not out for the Bears to upstage Jonny Bairstow.
In front of a decent Birmingham crowd basking in the warm weather, the Bears looked in a bit of bother on 51-4 against Yorkshire, but they were then rescued by a 97-run stand in eight overs between Hain and Chris Benjamin.
Having survived a drop early on when Dawid Malan put down a steepling catch, Benjamin made 46, while Henry Brookes then weighed in with useful runs as he and Hain added a further 42 from the final 18 balls to take the hosts to 200-6 from their 20 overs.
England all-rounder Chris Woakes then got the Bears off to a great start when he sent back Adam Lyth and Tykes skipper Shan Masood either side of Brookes getting the key wicket of Bairstow, caught behind for seven.
At 15-3, which quickly became 20-4, Yorkshire looked cooked. But Malan (43), Dom Bess (42 not out) and Jafer Chohan (30) at least pulled them into a position of respectability.
And when they twice in succession hit 18 off an over, there were even brief hopes of an amazing victory until the Bears quickly closed the door.
It was a great start to the campaign for the Bears, who are still to be further strengthened when England all-rounder Moeen Ali and Australia star Glenn Maxwell fly in from IPL duty.
Similarly, afternoon winners Lancashire were missing four star batters – injured skipper Keaton Jennings and IPL trio Phil Salt, Liam Livingstone and Jos Buttler.
But 32-year-old Wells took control, starring with a rapid 66 off 35 balls as Lancashire reached 183-6, overhauling the Derbyshire total of 179-5 to win with four balls to spare.
The Derbyshire total was underpinned by a 50 off 35 balls from former skipper Wayne Madsen – but it looked like being no more than a par score.
Wells showed what a good batting track it was as he belted the ball to all parts to complete his maiden T20 half-century.
He hoisted Pakistan paceman Zaman Khan’s first ball over long leg for six in an over that went for 18, then Zak Chappell’s opening over went for 15 as the Lightning thundered to 44 in three overs.
Openers Wells and George Bell added 59 from 26 balls before the latter spliced Khan to mid-on, then Steven Croft was run out after finding himself at the same end as Wells.
But the experienced opener thrashed a 24-ball fifty and, when he was caught in the leg-side deep in the 10th over, the Lightning only needed a further 68 to win.
The only surprise was that it took until the last over, but there was still time for a cleanly-hit 31 off 19 balls from New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell on his English T20 debut.
