The Southern Brave took the lead in the men’s Hundred standings with a win over Birmingham Phoenix at Edgbaston, while Jonny Bairstow narrowly beat long-time team-mate Joe Root in a battle of England’s stars.
The Braves posted a score of 169-2, their second highest score so far this season, and won the match by this score despite a great innings by Phoenix’s Ben Duckett, who scored more than two-thirds of the team’s runs.
Phoenix captain Moeen Ali won the toss and elected to bowl, after which James Vince and Alex Davis got the visitors off to a flying start, scoring 31 in the powerplay before cruising to 81 off 45 balls after Sean Abbott’s 22 in five sets.
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Duckett reached a personal best score of 92 points in the 2024 The Hundred.
Davis had a pitch from Benny Howell caught by Jacob Bethel, and Ruth du Prooy only managed nine hits before being caught by Bethel.
But then Vince and Kieron Pollard got to work, with Vince hitting six fours and six sixes from 47 balls, his highest score of the season (until Duckett surpassed it), to reach 90, and Pollard making 38 from 22 balls.
No bowler escaped punishment and Moeen’s 10 for 10 was the most economical return.
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A spectacular dive from Jacob Bethel ended the powerful partnership of Alex Davis and James Vince.
In reply, Duckett looked set to singlehandedly win the match, hitting a half-century off 21 balls as Phoenix reached 92 for 1 off 49 balls with the match completely balanced.
But inspired by some tight setting from Chris Jordan, who had Liam Livingstone down, the Braves took five wickets and five runs in 18 balls, with Jordan, Craig Overton, Jofra Archer, Akeel Hosin and
Tymal Mills has proven to be truly amazing.
Duckett batted 92 with eight walks and five sixes, while the rest of the team only managed four walks.
Man of the Match: James Vince
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Vince scored a brilliant 90 off 47 balls in The Hundred.
“It’s a great group of players and people are performing at the right time.”
Bairstow narrowly beats teammate Root
Jonny Bairstow’s 55 off 45 balls was the most notable knock in the match.
In a battle between England and Yorkshire teammates, Bairstow narrowly beat Root as Wales Fire beat Trent Rockets in a thrilling match at a raucous Trent Bridge.
The Rockets looked to have the upper hand for much of the match, but some dramatic moments at the end, including a spectacular catch in the outfield by the Fire, tipped the tide in their favor, before David Payne and Harris Rauch produced a stress-free final set to secure the four-point victory.
In this spectacular finale, four wickets fell in the final 10 balls, with Rashid Khan the first of the four to fall, becoming the second Rockets batsman to be run out after Root was slapped out for 17 by a superb throw from Joe Clarke at backward point.
Sam Hayne was caught up in both disruptions and although he remained scoreless at the death, he could only manage 22 runs off 26 balls, which was not enough to get the job done.
The Fire were ordered to bat first but of the batsmen on the field, Bairstow bowled most fluently, scoring 55 off 45 balls, an outstanding performance in a match dominated by spinners.
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Joe Root was run out following a miscommunication and left the field looking visibly angry.
His encounter with Root – who delivered a series of round-arm off-breaks from around the wicket to score just 19 from his 20-ball quota – was one of many subplots as the Fire fought to make as many runs as they could on a heavily turned delivery.
129-6 was a ferocious score but a good response from Root following lively starts from Alex Hales and Tom Banton gave the Rockets the lead and a win would have put them in the lead but this incredible comeback saw the Fire regain the momentum.
Man of the Match: Jonny Bairstow
“We had some close matches and those competitions really brought out different qualities in each player, especially the way our bowlers closed out the matches and Abes [Tom Abell] As captain, he acted bravely when necessary.
“On the field, anytime you can get two run outs it’s a pretty good advantage. Those are two wickets that the bowlers don’t have to take and the fielding from all the players was exemplary. We lost two innings but nobody was down, we were all pretty much in sync and we talked about going out and enjoying the challenge.”
On playing against his good friend Root, he said, “He didn’t let his guard down! He didn’t bowl a single ball! Before he went on I said, ‘It’s me or you’ and next thing I saw he was bowling a ball lower than Malinga!”
What’s next?
The Hundred continues with four games on Sunday. London Spirit and Oval Invincibles The women’s match will kick off at 11am and the men’s match will begin at 2.30pm and both matches will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Cricket.
Northern Superchargers and Manchester Original The women’s match will be broadcast on Sky Sports Mix from 2.30pm, while the men’s match will be broadcast on Sky Sports Cricket from 6pm. Stream The Hundred and other sports on NOW.
