Oval Invincibles retain men’s Hundred crown as London Spirit clinch women’s trophy

Oval Invincibles became back-to-back champions of the men’s Hundred competition with a resounding 17-run victory over Southern Brave, after London Spirit successfully chased down 115 to beat Welsh Fire and claim the women’s Hundred title in front of a record 22,008 fans at Lord’s.

After Brave set a target of 148 for victory, the game was in the balance before three wickets in six balls from Saqib Mahmood ripped the stuffing out of their run-chase and saw Invincibles become the first side to register four trophies across the men’s and women’s competitions.

Mahmood removed Leus Du Plooy, Kieron Pollard and Laurie Evans between the 72nd and 78th balls and when Chris Jordan followed them back into the pavilion four balls later, the game was settled as a contest.

The England seamer’s timely and vital burst added to a number of individual performances from Invincibles that combined to form a winning team effort.

Their total of 147 for nine, thanks to cameos from Will Jacks, Jordan Cox, Sam Curran and Tom Curran, proved to enough to successfully defend their crown from 12 months ago.

Jacks set the tone for the Invincibles, slapping the first ball he faced from Jofra Archer for six and not letting up thereafter, racing to 37 from just 22 balls.

Sam Curran and Cox both made sprightly 25s, but their two dismissals book-ended a mini collapse for last year’s champions. They lost four wickets across nine balls to leave themselves on 102 for six with one quarter of their innings remaining.

Step up Tom Curran, the hero of last year’s final. The elder of the Curran brothers sparkled with an 11-ball 24 to lift up Invincibles to 147 for nine.

It was a total that may have left both sides fancying their chances of winning going into the second half of the match – hovering around the average score for men’s games at the venue, but also requiring the highest successful chase in tHundred’s history at Lord’s.

Either way, Brave wanted a quick start in the Powerplay and while James Vince and Alex Davies (35) took them to 18 without after the first 10 balls, they struggled to accelerate away.

By the time Adam Zampa delivered his first set of five, Brave were looking at an increasingly demanding equation that required 100 runs from 65 balls.

Jacks then delivered with the ball to remove Vince for 23 before Nathan Sowter dismissed James Coles for four.

Du Plooy (20) and Evans (16) then put Brave well back in the game – 53 needed from 30 – before Mahmood came back into the attack to deliver three fatal blows to hand Oval Invincibles their second successive the Hundred trophy.

It followed a tense women’s finale, when London Spirit’s Deepti Sharma and Charlie Dean got their team over the line, with Indian all-rounder Sharma finishing the job with a six over long on with just two balls left.

Sharma’s strike hung in the air and briefly looked to be heading to Shabnim Ismail on the boundary, but there was enough power to go all the way and bring an end to a topsy-turvy encounter that swung both ways.

As a result, head coach Ashley Noffke and campaign Heather Knight celebrated London Spirit’s first trophy in The Hundred.

Having opted to bowl first, Spirit were initially sloppy – too often straying down the leg side – but they were soon into their work, Tara Norris seeing the back off Sophia Dunkley for two.

With a new batter at the crease, Charlie Dean tightened the screw – conceding no runs from her first five balls – before her leg-spinning colleague Sarah Glenn struck the first decisive blows of the game, removing Tammy Beaumont (22) and Sarah Bryce for a duck across three balls.

That brought Hayley Matthews and Jess Jonassen together and they utilised every ounce of their international experience to rebuild Fire’s innings from a potentially perilous 32 for three.

Matthews added 22 before nicking Eva Gray behind, but boosted her side’s total to 84 for four by that point.

Jonassen carried on to make a fine 54, the backbone of her Fire’s 115 for eight from their 100 balls to set a defendable total.

Meg Lanning has made a habit of getting Spirit ahead of the run-rate, but she lasted only nine ball after South African speedster Ismail proved too good for the former Australian captain when dismissing her for four.

It began a trend of Ismail taking key wickets in her three for 24 as Fire fought gamely to defend their 115.

Running in hard and using the slope to her advantage, she bowled both Heather Knight (24) and Dani Gibson (22) at times when Spirit looked set to accelerate away

Unfortunately for Welsh Fire, Ismail’s heroics were not enough to claim the spoils.

Spirit’s chase was built around Georgia Redmayne, who made a steely 34, and laid the foundations for Knight, Gibson and then Sharma to secure the trophy for London Spirit.

Meerkat Match Hero Redmayne said: “A long time between boundaries, Ismail bowled great and took key wickets.

“I don’t think you ever feel in control in a final, but so proud in front of a record crowd at Lord’s.”

Welsh Fire captain Tammy Beaumont said: “I’m so proud of the girls to fight like they did. At the time-out, it was there to lose. Gutted, we’d have loved to win.

“We’ve got in some good people, Gareth (Breese) and I had a vision to make it more than just a franchise that you turn up to.

“We were 10 light with the bat, but credit to Spirit, they kept taking wickets through the middle.”

PA