Oval Invincibles made it three wins from 4 in The Hundred with Sam Curran’s all-round heroics proving the distinction between two sides preventing it out for bragging rights within the capital.
Curran smashed 51 from 22 balls, single-handedly dragging the Invincibles to a powerful complete on a difficult floor earlier than decimating the Spirit’s hopes of chasing 147 in an astonishing five-wicket spell that included a hat-trick.
On a Lord’s pitch providing a level of lateral motion, Invincibles’ captain Sam Billings selected to bat first, and with Spirit’s assault making good use of the bowler-friendly floor, the guests struggled to 46-2 on the midway stage.
Olly Stone bowled Will Jacks by the gate and Liam Dawson dismissed Jordan Cox, who was contemporary off his call-up to the England Males’s Take a look at squad.
Dawid Malan and Billings then struck a couple of hefty blows earlier than Malan was caught on the square-leg boundary off Matt Critchley for 38 from 29.
Billings struggled to get going and retired himself out in favour of the in-form Donovan Ferreira, but it surely was Curran who turned the tide, reaching a half century off 21 deliveries, together with three successive sixes off Nathan Ellis. His innings propelled Invincibles to a decent-looking 147-5.
In response, Spirit made it by the powerplay unscathed, Keaton Jennings and Michael Pepper guiding them to 35-0.
However thereafter Invincibles’ top-notch spin assault turned the screw, with each openers and Ollie Pope falling in fast succession; Jacks eradicating Jennings lbw, Adam Zampa having Pepper caught with the primary ball of his spell, and Nathan Sowter crashing a leg break by Pope’s defences.
Dan Lawrence and Shimron Hetmyer dragged the Spirit again into it and with 56 wanted from the ultimate 30 balls, the sport was on. However earlier than they may up the ante, Zampa, who ended with figures of 3-22, dismissed each Hetmyer (20 from 21) and Lawrence (27 from 18).
Regardless of Andre Russell making an attempt to bludgeon the hosts dwelling, Curran made the Invincibles win a certainty by taking solely the third hat-trick within the historical past of the The Hundred males’s competitors to cap one of many event’s biggest particular person performances.
Participant of the match: Sam Curran
“I’ve had a few battles with Russ (Russell) over the years. The hat-trick ball wasn’t on my mind, it was either going to be me or him, he was going to hit me for six or I was going to get a wicket. Thankfully he edged it but most importantly we got the win,” mentioned Curran.
“It’s never over when players like Dan (Lawrence), Hetmyer and Russell are there, so when we got him (Russell) out it was a big relief.”
Brook fires Superchargers to victory over Originals
Harry Brook’s half-century fired Andrew Flintoff’s Northern Superchargers to a 14-run victory over Manchester Originals in The Hundred conflict at Headingley.
The England batter made 58 from 33 balls as Superchargers posted 167-5 having misplaced the toss earlier than the winless Originals had been undone by two run outs as they fell comfortably brief of their chase.
Superchargers obtained off to a troublesome begin with the bat as Fazalhaq Farooqi took a wicket with the primary ball of the match.
Graham Clark and captain Brook rebuilt the innings with a well-constructed 50 partnership. Brook went on to notch an explosive half-century earlier than being caught by a spectacular one-handed diving effort from Scott Currie.
The Originals got here again strongly on the finish to limit Superchargers to 167.
Captain Phil Salt and Matty Hurst obtained Originals’ innings off to a promising begin with 90 for the opening partnership.
However each had been run out – Salt for 40 from 27 balls and the spectacular Hurst top-scored with 78 from 45.
Originals capitulated from 90-0 to 128-4 thanks partially to spinner Mitchell Santner, who took 2-23.
When Hurst departed, Originals required 29 from 13 however they had been unable to recover from the road as no different batter made double figures, leaving them rooted to the underside of the desk.
Superchargers moved as much as third after a 3rd win in 4 matches.
Participant of the match: Harry Brook
“I felt like they were the favourites coming out of the powerplay but we bowled unbelievably well at the death to get the win,” mentioned Brook.
“The outfield is so quick here that I didn’t feel like I needed to hit many balls in the air, so I was just trying to pierce the gaps and it worked.
“I used to be simply attempting to remain in till the top so I might put stress on them on the finish. I felt good initially and fortunately I hit a couple of gaps.”
What’s next?
The Hundred continues with two matches on Monday. Welsh Fire and Southern Brave women get the day started at 3pm followed by the men at 6.30pm, with both matches live on Sky Sports Cricket. Stream The Hundred and extra sport with NOW.