T20 Blast 2022: Paul Stirling smashes 46-ball century for Birmingham Bears, scores 34 in an over

Devastating Irish opener Paul Stirling kicked off this year’s T20 Blast in style as he smashed a 46-ball ton in the opening match of Birmingham Bears against the Northants Steelbacks. His innings included 10 sixes and nine fours as he scored 119 runs off 51 balls in the rain-curtailed match.

The major talking point of the innings was the 13th over of the match where Stirling smashed James Sales for 34 runs. He hit five consecutive sixes and a four in the over to turn around the momentum of the match totally.

Sales bowled a short ball into the leg side and Stirling hit a huge six through his pull short. Again he bowled a leg-sided ball which Stirling dispatched in the cow-corner for a six. Then, Sales tried to deceive the Irish Batter with some good length balls for the next two, but Stirling was in beast mode as he used his bottom hand to put the ball out of the park. For the fifth delivery of the over, Sales went back to the short ball theory and again, Sterling hooked away that ball for a six.

After hitting five consecutive sixes, Stirling was in full contention for six sixes in the over. But, he failed to register the final six as he tried to smash that straight and flat, but only got an edge and it went past over the keeper for a boundary.

Paul Stirling scores 34 runs in one over

6️⃣6️⃣6️⃣6️⃣6️⃣4️⃣ – 34 from an over!@stirlo90 is a cheat code 😲 #Blast22 pic.twitter.com/Sy7ByS4wwm

— Vitality Blast (@VitalityBlast) May 26, 2022

Speaking about the match, after opting to bat first, the devastating innings from Stirling helped Birmingham Bears to post 207 runs in 16 overs. In reply, Northants Steelbacks only managed to score 81 in 14.2 overs, losing all the wickets. Apart from Stirling, both Danny Briggs and Jake Lintott were in form as they bagged three wickets each. Birmingham Bears opened their account with a huge win by 125 runs in this year’s Blast.