The Hundred 2022: Birmingham Phoenix hold their nerves to beat Oval Invincibles in a close-fought contest
Match Report of the 23rd match of the Hundred Men’s Competition 2022 where the Oval Invvincibles took on Birmingham Phoenix.
Birmingham Phoenix hold their nerves on Match 23 of the Hundred Men’s Competition 2022 saw the Oval Invincibles take on the Birmingham Phoenix at the Kennington Oval in London. It was a close-fought contest and Phoenix managed to beat the Invincibles in front of their home crowd.
Oval Invincibles skipper Sam Billings won the toss and opted to bowl first. Phoenix got off to a steady start, with their batters contributing. Skipper Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone build a solid partnership of 69 for the third wicket which helped them lay a foundation for a strong finish.
Moeen departed on 42 and Livingstone fell five short of his half-century which helped the Invincibles to get back into the contest. They bowled decently in the slog overs and restricted Phoenix to 166 at the end of their 100 balls. Matt Milnes and Sunil Narine picked up three and two wickets respectively for the home side.
The Invincibles had a shaky start to the chase, losing two wickets early in their innings. Jason Roy along with Jordan Cox led the recovery work but Roy’s struggling innings came to an end on 21. Cox looked good for his 32 but Phoenix kept picking wickets at regular intervals to peg back the Invincibles in the chase.
Curran brothers Sam and Tom tried hard and scored 30 each but it was too much to do in the end. They finished their innings on 156/8, falling short by 10 runs. Kane Richardson and Tom Helm picked up three wickets apiece to help Phoenix grab their fourth win of the Hundred 2022.
Birmingham Phoenix jump to the third spot in the points table of the Hundred 2022
The batters did a very good job to post 166 on the board and the bowlers then stepped up and backed them up to defend the total successfully to jump to the third spot in the points table. They lost their last game against the Northern Superchargers but have got back to winning ways. They are certainly a team to look forward in the business end of the Hundred 2022.
Sunil Narine ends his time at #TheHundred as the season's leading wicket-taker so far 🌟#6ixty #CPL #IPL #TheHundredFantasyGame #SunilNarine pic.twitter.com/6UJ1mbKjZF
— CriiicWorld (@Criiicworld) August 23, 2022
Oval Invincibles, meanwhile, have three wins and as many losses in a total of six games. They missed a chance of entering the top three as they lost to Phoenix in front of their home crowd. They have now lost two games on the trot and will be hoping to get back to winning ways when they take the field next time.
Player of the Match
Two 🔥 performances with the ball for Phoenix tonight 💪https://t.co/fcPcg8vOQ4 | #TheHundred pic.twitter.com/933y6PTQMB
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) August 23, 2022
Kane Richardson is the player of the match for his spell of 3/22.
Always nice to win. It is a tough ground to defend. The way we closed it out when they were coming hard at us was good. Tom Helm bowled a class over.
I just used the dimensions of the field. It is always challenging with a left-hander and right-hander. I think we know we will be hard to beat at home. We have two more go. There are teams ahead of us on the table.
Birmingham Phoenix hold their nerves to beat Oval Invicibles
Score Summary:
Birmingham Phoenix: 166/6 (100)
(Liam Livingstone 45, Moeen Ali 42, Matt Milnes 3/32)
Oval Invincibles: 156/8 (100)
(Jordan Cox 32, Tom Curran 30, Tom Helm 3/11)
Birmingham Phoenix beat Oval Invincibles by 10 runs.
