BIRMINGHAM Bears slipped to successive defeats against Lancashire Lightning and Durham in the T20 Blast.
The Bears lost by eight runs against Lancashire at Old Trafford before suffering a 26-run defeat against Durham at Edgbaston.
And the results mean the Bears sit sixth in the North Group standings.
Against Lancashire, the home side made a strong start, after George Garton (1-18) bowled Josh Bohannon (15), as Luke Wells (66) and Keaton Jennings (18) helped Lightning reach 98-2.
Bears bowler Jake Lintott (2-29) eventually claimed the wickets of both Jennings and Wells before Danny Briggs (1-24) accounted for Tom Bruce (11).
And Garton then ran out Matthew Hurst (7) as Steven Croft (26) and Chris Green (17) helped Lancashire reach 176-8.
In reply, Birmingham lost openers Alex Davies (16) and Rob Yates (7) in consecutive overs before Wells (2-25) bowled Chris Benjamin (15) and Dan Mousley (11) fell to leave the Bears on 76-4.
Excellent knocks from Jacob Bethell (33) and Sam Hain (59) carried the Bears closer to the required total but not at a fast enough run rate to set up an exciting finale.
Birmingham needed 24 runs from the final over as Hasan Ali (17 not out) hit two sixes in vain as the Bears fell nine runs short of victory.
And a strong batting display from Durham saw the Bears lose a second T20 Blast game in a row.
Durham recovered from 0-1 in the first over, after Garton (3-41) claimed the wicket of Graham Clark (0), as David Bedingham (61) scored a fine half-century, hitting nine fours and three sixes in his 27-ball innings.
Useful knocks from Ollie Robinson (25) and Ashton Turner (33) kept the runs flowing while Ben Raine (13), Paul Coughlin (16) and Matthew Potts (14) all reached double figures as Durham finished on 194-9.
In reply, the Bears lost opener Yates (0) after just two balls as Davies (47) and Mousley (35) helped Birmingham recover to 81-2.
However, after Bethell (50) fell in the 18th over, the Bears lost their final three wickets for the addition of just 10 runs as Raine (5-21) claimed an impressive five-wicket haul.
Birmingham continue their T20 Blast campaign against Yorkshire Vikings on Friday, June 14 with the game to begin at 7.05pm at Edgbaston.
The Bears then travel to Derbyshire Falcons on Sunday, June 16 with the match to start at 3.30pm at the County Ground.
