Joe McConnell
The Oval Invincibles secured their third win in four in The Hundred, with Sam Curran’s heroics proving the difference between two teams battling for bragging rights in the capital.
Curran made 51 from 22 balls, single-handedly dragging the Invincibles to a high score on a tricky surface before crushing the Spirits’ hopes of chasing 147 in a stunning five-wicket spell that included a hat-trick.
On a Lord’s pitch that offered some lateral movement, Invincibles captain Sam Billings elected to bat first and, with the Spirit attack making good use of the bowler-friendly surface, the visitors fought back to 46-2 at half-time.
Olly Stone bowled Will Jacks through the wicket and Liam Dawson dismissed Jordan Cox, who had just been called up to the England men’s Test squad.
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Curran scored a stunning half-century off just 21 balls for the Oval Invincibles, including three sixes in a row!
Dawid Malan and Billings then struck some powerful shots before Malan was caught on the square leg boundary by Matt Critchley for 38 from 29.
Billings struggled to get going and was retired in favour of the in-form Donovan Ferreira, but it was Curran who turned the tide, hitting a half-century off 21 deliveries, including three consecutive sixes off Nathan Ellis. His innings propelled the Invincibles to a comfortable 147-5.
In response, the Spirit stormed through the power play, led by Keaton Jennings and Michael Pepper, to build a 35-0 lead.
But from there on the Invincibles’ top-order spin attack turned the screw, with both openers and Ollie Pope falling in quick succession: Jacks removed Jennings lbw, Adam Zampa had Pepper caught with the first ball of his spell and Nathan Sowter breached Pope’s defences with a leg break.
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Charlie Dean of Spirit leapt into the air to make a sensational catch!
Dan Lawrence and Shimron Hetmyer got the Spirit back into the game and with 56 needed from the last 30 balls, the game was on. But before they could raise the stakes, Zampa, who finished with figures of 3-22, removed both Hetmyer (20 off 21) and Lawrence (27 off 18).
Despite Andre Russell’s attempts to send the hosts home, Curran made victory certain for the Invincibles by scoring only the third hat-trick in the history of the men’s Hundred competition, capping one of the tournament’s finest individual performances.
Player of the match: Sam Curran
“I’ve had a few battles with Russ (Russell) over the years. The hat-trick ball wasn’t in my mind, it was either me or him, he was going to hit me six or I was going to take a wicket. Luckily he got over it, but the most important thing is we won,” Curran said.
“It’s never over when you have players like Dan (Lawrence), Hetmyer and Russell, so it was a big relief when we got him (Russell) off.”
Brook Launches Superchargers to Victory Over Originals
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Harry Brook’s best of 58 from 33 helped Northern Superchargers to victory over Manchester Originals
Harry Brook’s half-century powered Andrew Flintoff’s Northern Superchargers to a 14-run victory over Manchester Originals in The Hundred clash at Headingley.
The England batsman made 58 from 33 balls as the Superchargers posted 167-5 after losing the toss before the still-winless Originals were bowled out by two runs to comfortably defeat them in their chase.
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Phil Salt of the Originals was eliminated by Adil Rashid after forgetting to ground his bat
The Superchargers got off to a rocky start with the bat, as Fazalhaq Farooqi took a wicket with the first ball of the match.
Graham Clark and captain Brook rebuilt the innings with a well-constructed partnership of 50. Brook went on to score an explosive half-century before being caught by a spectacular one-handed dive from Scott Currie.
The Originals came back strongly in the end, limiting the Superchargers to 167.
Captain Phil Salt and Matty Hurst got the Originals innings off to a promising start with 90 runs for the opening partnership.
But both were eliminated: Salt scored 40 from 27 balls and the excellent Hurst top-scored with 78 from 45.
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Scott Currie stopped vital runs with this brilliant one-handed catch on the edge
The Originals fell from 90-0 to 128-4 thanks in part to spinner Mitchell Santner, who won 2-23.
When Hurst left, the Originals needed 29 for 13, but couldn’t get past the milestone as no other batter reached double figures, leaving them at the bottom of the standings.
The Superchargers climb to third place after their third win in four games.
Player of the match: Harry Brook
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Brook was sent off after this catch by Currie, but the Headingley crowd were convinced the ball had not arrived
“I thought they were the favorites after the power play, but we played incredibly well until the last minute to get the win,” Brook said.
“The outfield is so fast here that I didn’t feel like I had to hit a lot of balls in the air, so I just tried to hit the gaps and it worked.
“I was just trying to stay in until the end so I could put pressure on them at the end. I felt good at the beginning and luckily I found some gaps.”
What’s next?
The Hundred continues with two games on Monday. Welsh Fire AND Brave of the South The women’s kick off the day at 3pm, followed by the men at 6.30pm, with both matches live on Vscek Cricket. Stream The Hundred and other sports with NOW.
