KAI Smith’s unbeaten half-century ensured Warwickshire Bears ended their T20 Blast campaign on a winning note with victory against Northamptonshire Steelbacks.
The Bears missed out on a quarter-final spot but avoided propping up the group with a five-wicket win against table toppers Northants at the County Ground.
Northants posted 153 all out from their 20 overs as the Bears reached the required total with 10 balls left and five wickets in hand.
Warwickshire end their Central and West group campaign in fourth place, ahead of Glamorgan and Worcestershire Rapids on net run rate with six wins from 12 matches.
Northants had already secured top spot and a home quarter-final before facing the Bears as the home side won the toss and elected to bat.
However, Richard Gleeson (2-31) removed Northants opener Ricardo Vasconcelos (2) in the second over of the match.
And Beau Webster (3-30) struck to remove Chris Lynn (19) before Chris Woakes (1-24) accounted for Nathan McSweeney (13).
Dan Mousley (1-20) claimed the scalp of Northants captain David Willey (9) to leave the Steelbacks in trouble on 52-4.
Saif Zaib (37) and Louis Kimber (17) looked to rebuild the innings before Tazeem Ali (1-19) struck to break up the partnership.
Webster returned to quickly remove Lewis McManus (5) and trapped Calvin Harrison (0) LBW with the very next ball as Northants slumped to 95-7.
Tail order batter Luke Proctor (33 not out) frustrated the Bears attack in a 25-ball knock while Ben Sanderson (14) also added useful runs.
However, after Gleeson accounted for Zaib, Jordan Thompson (2-28) bowled Sanderson and George Scrimshaw (1) to bring an end to the innings.
The Bears struggled with the bat early on in reply as opener Zen Malik (2) fell cheaply to the bowling of Sanderson (1-23).
Fellow opener Vansh Jani (26) hit three fours and two sixes in an entertaining 12-ball knock before Scrimshaw (3-36) claimed his first scalp.
And the Bears lost three wickets in as many overs soon after as Webster (3), Mousley (1) and Hamza Shaikh (2) all departed for single figure scores.
This left Warwickshire in trouble on 49-5 at the end of the seventh over as Scrimshaw took two further wickets and Proctor (1-25) also struck.
However, Sam Hain (48 not out) and Smith (65 not out) combined for a 105-run sixth-wicket stand in a match-winning partnership.
Smith hit 10 fours and one six en route to a half-century with support from Hain as the pair guided the Bears to a five-wicket win in the penultimate over of the match.
