Southern Brave (SOB) clinched their first points in Hundred after a thrilling four-wicket win over Birmingham Phoenix (BPH) at The Rose Bowl cricket ground. James Vince and Liam Livingstone hit half-centuries for their respective franchises, while Chris Jordan steered the hosts home with an unbeaten 17.
After winning the toss, Southern Brave chose to bowl first. Craig Overton, who received an England call-up, and Danny Briggs made way for George Garton and Liam Dawson in the playing eleven. Birmingham Phoenix fielded the same squad that suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Manchester Originals.
Finn Allen hit the first ball to a boundary, and his fellow opener Daniel Bell-Drummond smashed a six off Jordan. But Tymal Mills struck in the second ball of his first set of five to remove Bell-Drummond. The new batsman Livingstone made his intentions clear after scoring a boundary and two sixes in his first six balls. The Southern Brave batter holed out to Vince at mid-off in the 28-ball. However, Colin de Grandhomme had overstepped.
Birmingham Phoenix found themselves in trouble after Jake Lintott grabbed the wickets of Allen and Moeen Ali in the space of four balls. The Kiwi got stumped out, and Lintott trapped Moeen in front of the stumps. The visitors’ scorecard read 47/3 after 37 balls.
Livingstone and Miles Hammond upped the tempo after the partnership got off to a slow start. Dawson and Jordan leaked boundaries, and Garton conceded 12 runs in his final set of five. Southern Brave scored 44 runs in the last 20 balls of the innings, with both Livingstone and Hammond remaining unbeaten.
Southern Brave began their run chase rapidly. Vince hammered three fours and a six in Tom Helm’s first set of five and unsettled Moeen, too, with a boundary. But Adam Milne broke the partnership after he dismissed Quinton de Kock for 3.
Vince, who reached his half-century in 30 balls, and Devon Conway rotated the strike well and pounced on the loose balls. The pair put together a half-century stand before Vince fell for 60, with the franchise still 70 runs away from the target. Conway went into the attacking mode and scored 18 off Moeen’s final set of five.
With Southern Brave seemed in control of the run chase, they lost Alex Davies, Conway, and Grandhomme in quick succession. The onus was on Jordan and Ross Whiteley as the home side needed 18 runs from 10 balls. Milne struck again to remove Whiteley but conceded nine runs.
Southern Brave needed nine runs from five balls, and Jordan crushed Helm’s first delivery into the square leg for four runs. A dropped catch and two wides helped Southern Brave grab the win in the 97th ball.
BPH 151/3 in 100 balls (L Livingstone 68*, M Hammond 44*; J Lintott 2/13)
SOB 152/6 in 97 balls (J Vince 60; D Conway 34, A Milne 3/15)
Player of the Match
Vince led from the front to grab two points for his side in match 11 of the 100-ball tournament. It was an excellent knock from the 30-year-old, who put the pressure early on Howell and Moeen in the run chase. He scored 18 runs in the uncapped bowler’s first set of five and struck three boundaries off the Birmingham Phoenix captain. Both bowlers had a match to forget as they combined conceded 79 runs in 37 balls.
Top Fantasy XI
A Milne (93 pts), L Livingstone (93 pts), J Vince (83 pts), J Lintott (66 pts), M Hammond (63 pts), I Tahir (45 pts), D Conway (42 pts), T Mills (29 pts), M Ali (25 pts), T Helm (23 pts), C Jordan (21 pts)
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Parameswaran Sankaranarayanan
Parameswaran Sankaranarayan is a sports enthusiast who has worked in print, website, and other digital platforms. He was part of the editorial team of first-ever Indian football-based website - IndianFootball.com (now defunct) - and passionately follows the latest happenings in world football. During his time as a journalist, he had the opportunity to interact with some of the iconic personalities in Indian sports and witness some memorable moments in Indian football.
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