Birmingham Bears 159 for 5 (Hain 76, Bethell 71*, Taylor 3-36) beat Worcestershire 155 for 7 (Jones 26*, Briggs 2-22) by five wickets
Sam Hain and Jacob Bethell powered Birmingham Bears to the top of the Northern Group in the Vitality Blast as they defeated local rivals Worcestershire Rapids by five wickets at 'Visit Worcestershire New Road.'
Haine and Bethell joined forces with the Bears floundering at 7 for 3 in reply to Worcestershire's 155 for 7. They both hit half-centuries and featured in a century partnership to guide Birmingham to a fourth successive win.
Hain was dismissed with one run needed for 76 to end a stand of 148 - a record fourth-wicket partnership against Worcestershire in the competition, beating the 113 in 2014 by Durham's Calum McLeod and Paul Collingwood at Chester-le-Street. But Bethell remained undefeated on 71 to see the Bears home with 2.1 overs to spare.
The duo batted with great assurance and calm as Birmingham moved two points clear of previous leaders Lancashire with a sixth triumph of the summer.
For Worcestershire it was their fifth successive setback of the campaign and their hopes of emulating last summer's quarter-final spot have all but evaporated with six games remaining.
Worcestershire produced another disjointed display with the bat and too many of their players contributed to their own downfall when appearing set.
The Bears spinners, Danny Briggs, Jake Lintott and Dan Mousley, kept a tight grip on proceedings and had combined figures of 4 for 79 from their 12 overs.
Adam Hose led the Rapids against his former club with captain Brett D'Oliveira ruled out with a recurrence of a shoulder problem.
Batter Kashif Ali returned for the home side after taking a break from the game in place of Shoaib Bashir.
The Bears brought in Michael Booth in place of pace bowler Richard Gleeson who suffered a side strain in last night's win over Northamptonshire Steelbacks.
Bears captain, Alex Davies, put the home side in to bat on a new hybrid pitch.
Kashif struck Michael Booth for six over deep mid wicket but perished next ball attempting to repeat the shot.
Ed Pollock went on the offensive against George Garton, striking him for a huge six backward of square and two boundaries in an over costing 14 runs.
But Jake Lintott pulled off a superb one-handed catch at mid-off to dismiss Josh Cobb off Craig Miles.
Ed Pollock then lofted Dan Mousley straight into the hands of mid on in the final over of the powerplay.
Gareth Roderick swung Bethell over midwicket for six but then was bowled by a ball of full length from Danny Briggs.
Briggs struck again as Hose departed to an excellent catch low down on the long-on boundary and Ethan Brookes fell in the same area off Bethell.
Another attempted big hit, by Nathan Smith, led to his downfall at long-off - off Lintott - before some spirited late hitting from Rob Jones and Tom Taylor lifted the total.
Worcestershire needed early wickets and Smith struck twice in two balls in the opening over of the Bears innings.
Ed Barnard attempted to ramp the New Zealander and lobbed an easy catch to keeper Roderick and then a fine delivery bowled Mousley.
It became 7 for 3 when Hayden Walsh held onto a low chance after Bears captain Alex Davies sliced a Taylor delivery to Hayden Walsh.
But Hain, so often a thorn in Worcestershire's side, unleashed a series of fine strokes as he and Bethell launched a recovery, initially rebuilding and then accelerating.
It was Bethell who produced the power hitting and he brought up his fifty in three balls fewer than Hain - 37 - with the third of his three sixes.
Hain and Chris Benjamin were dismissed in a late flurry by Tom Taylor before the Bears sealed victory.
