Notts Outlaws narrowly missed out on securing a Vitality Blast quarter-final with a game to spare as they were beaten by two wickets against Birmingham Bears at Trent Bridge, despite Shaheen Shah Afridi taking four wickets in the first over of their chase. 

The Bears, already sure of a place in the knock-out stages after five straight wins before this, found themselves reeling at seven for four as the left-armer, at 23 already regarded as among the best bowlers in the world in this format, gave away five wides with his first ball but then took wickets with his first, second, fifth and sixth legal deliveries.

But, after Olly Stone was forced off the pitch, Rob Yates put together a calm 65 from 46 balls with five sixes that ultimately proved to be the foundation for a victory completed with five balls to spare with vital runs from Jacob Bethell (27) and Jake Lintott (27 not out) in the middle and later stages of the innings.

Despite Tom Moores hitting 73 from 42 balls, the Outlaws looked a touch under par with 168 from their 20 overs, Hasan Ali taking three for 25 and Lintott three for 27. Afridi’s four for 29 and Jake Ball’s three for 33 proved in vain and Outlaws need to beat Leicestershire Foxes at Trent Bridge in their final game to join the Bears in the knock-out stages.

Asked to bat first, the Outlaws suffered an early blow as Alex Hales chopped on to Henry Brookes for four but Joe Clarke and Lyndon James found some late momentum in the powerplay, James clearing the Larwood and Voce Stand with an enormous six over midwicket off Brookes.

Yet from 61 for one after six overs they were checked again by the Bears spinners, with both Clarke (26) and Matt Montgomery bowled by Lintott in consecutive overs as the Outlaws reached halfway at 86 for three.

Lintott, the left-arm wrist spinner, picked up his third wicket when James, in his most productive Blast innings to date, cut to backward point for 37.

Late runs were against the loss of six wickets as Pakistan international Ali signed off his Bears stint by having Steven Mullaney caught on the fence, trapping Matt Carter leg before and bowling Moores with the last ball of the innings after Maxwell had removed Imad Wasim, leg before, and Shaheen Shah Afridi via a catch at long on before Stone was run out as the last three balls of the innings all brought wickets.

Any hopes of straightforward night for the Bears seemed to be obliterated in Afridi’s extraordinary first over, which began with five wides but then saw Alex Davies yorked and Chris Benjamin bowled attempting a scoop off the first two legal deliveries, followed by two singles and another two wickets off the final two balls, Dan Mousley falling victim to a stunning one-handed catch by Stone at short cover and Ed Barnard castled first ball by another stunning yorker.

Yates began to assert himself with sixes off Carter and Ball but Maxwell bottom-edged into his stumps off Ball and the Bears were 60 for five.

Thanks to Afridi’s heroics, the Bears were three runs behind where they needed to be on the Duckworth Lewis Stone chart when rain brought an interruption with the visitors 76 for five after seven, but the break, which in the end cost no overs, game the Bears time to gather their senses and at 101 for five after 10, with Yates having completed a 27-ball fifty that included four sixes, they were beginning to look favourites.

James Bethell was needlessly run out in the 12th over, putting the outcome in the balance again with 51 needed from 50 balls, but as the requirement came down to 34 from the last five overs it was clear that the Outlaws needed to be rid of Yates if they were not to slip to defeat.

In the event, they claimed his wicket with the next ball as the left-hander sent a delivery from  Ball skywards and Clarke took a fine diving catch at cover as Yates departed for 65.  Ball raised home hopes again when he dismissed Hasan Ali with two overs left but Henry Brookes hit the winning boundary off Imad Wasim in the final over.