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For the first time in men's Hundred, Welsh Fire have been trounced and this wonder has been performed by Carlos Braithwaite’s Manchester Originals. A Jonny Bairstow-less Fire line-up scored a respectable 150 in their innings. It was touted that the bowlers can defend it, but it wasn’t meant to be.

For the Originals, Salt and Clarke opened in the chase, which could have been tricky but the openers took the attack to the bowlers. They Originals pair started smashing the ball from the word go and some luck favoured them too. Fire lost two valuable sets of Jake Ball, who got injured after the fourth set only. Both Manchester’s clean-hitting batters were at their sheer best as he didn’t show any mercy to any bowler. They shared a 94-run opening stand, after that it was almost done and dusted. Fire’s bowlers pulled off things in the middle phase as they picked a couple of wickets, but as I said earlier, it wasn’t meant to be. New Zealand’s Colin Munro remained unbeaten as he finished the game by drilling two consecutive boundaries. At last, Manchester Originals registered a seven-wicket win.

Joe Clarke is named the Hero of the Match.

Joe Clarke: I was a bit everywhere after my first five or six balls. I love batting with Salty, we're always taking the aggressive option. [Better player now?] I had the experience of playing some franchise cricket over the winter and the responsibility of being an overseas player which I think makes you a better player. [No. 3 vs opening?] It doesn't change the way I go about things, just playing that aggressive brand of cricket that most teams play now. We thought it was going to be a worse wicket than it played. The bowlers thought they were 15-20 short which gave us confidence. [Disappointed to miss out on ODI squad?] Not really, I was actually isolating. I had Covid, so I was stuck in the room. It was so good to watch the depth of English cricket. [Far away?] I'm not sure, to be honest... just trying to enjoy playing for Notts and this opportunity with the Manchester Originals. [Word on Stokes] I'm sure all the cricketers around the world are with you and hoping you feel better soon.

Ben Duckett: Halfway we were happy. The ball was turning and stopping a bit, so to get to 150 was a brilliant effort. In white-ball cricket if someone plays well, it is tough. We dragged it back well in the middle stages but couldn't get over the line. It (captaincy) is hectic. I really enjoyed it. I knew from the last few days that I was going to do it, paid attention in the last game and it's not ideal when your best bowler goes down. It is a good pitch and obviously a short straight boundary, it was a bit tacky and stopping.

Carlos Brathwaite: The message in the dressing room was that they were 15-20 runs short. Coming into today's game, the pitch was under covers and we didn't have a chance to look at it, but we looked at some of the stats and it was the best pitch of the season and we went there trying to bowl cutters, spin and make them hit to the long square boundaries. But it was a fantastic track and we figured 150-odd was probably par. And with the way the boys went out there and played proved that they were some runs short. That was fantastic. Clarke has done it for Notts but this is a bigger stage, he would enjoy rubbing shoulders with some of the best. Salt too, it was not a typical Salt innings but he stuck it out there and added a crucial partnership.

This is it from this game, but don't you worry. The cricketing action is never ending on OneCricket and Cricket Exchange. Do join us for the live coverage of the second men's game of the Hundred in 10 minutes' time. Also, keep a tab on our coverage of Pakistan vs West Indies and the TNPL game. This was me, Arjun Bhalla alongside my colleague, Kingshuk Kusari. KBye!