Oval Invincibles vs Manchester Originals, London
Brief Scores: Oval Invincibles 145/8 in 100 balls (Billings 49; Klaassen 3-23) beat Manchester Originals 136/7 in 100 balls (Brathwaite 37; Sowter 2-18) by 9 runs. Player of the Match: Sam Billings.
Sam Billings led from the front as Oval Invincibles beat Manchester Originals by nine runs in the opening clash of The Hundred Men’s competition, thus emulating their female counterparts.
Billings’ 30-ball 49 propelled the Invincibles to 145/8 in 100 balls. In reply, the Originals could only manage 136/7. Carlos Brathwaite’s 37 was the highest score of the innings as Sam Curran and Nathan Sowter picked two wickets each.
Jos Buttler’s decision to bowl after winning the toss was vindicated early in the game. Tom Hartley struck twice in his opening spell, and Fred Klassen trapped Sunil Narine leg-before to reduce Invincibles to 32/3. Hartley removed both openers, Jason Roy and Sam Curran.
The Invincibles found themselves at 48/4 after Will Jacks holed out to Steven Finn off Matthew Parkinson. Colin Ingram joined Billings out in the middle, and they forged a much-needed partnership for the fifth wicket, worth 57 runs. Billings did the bulk of the scoring, while Ingram got out on 17.
Tom Curran's perfect cameo, of 29 from 18 balls, helped the Invincibles reach 145/8.
Manchester got off a terrible start, and they kept losing wickets regularly, skidding to 50/4. Sam Curran got rid of Phil Salt in his opening spell, while Reece Topley had Joe Clark caught behind the stumps.
Buttler looked far from fluent and eventually holed out an easy catch to Ingram off Narine. Brathwaite then revived the chase, and was ably assisted by Calvin Harrison. The duo combined 53 runs for the sixth wicket.
But Brathwaite’s conservatism at the start left Originals with too much to do in the last moments of the game. They needed 19 off 5 when Sam Curran removed Brathwaite on the first ball to seal victory for his team.