136/5 (20.0)
CR : 6.80
168/5 (20.0)
CR : 8.40
Southern Brave won The Hundred (M) 2021
Player of the Match
Paul Stirling
61(36)
That is it!!! Benny Howell finishes it off with a boundary but Southern Brave won't mind it!! They seal the inaugural edition of The Hundred Men's competition by 32 runs. What a terrific death bowling masterclass from Chris Jordan and Tymal Mills in the end. James Vince's men will be completely proud of this effort. The 169-run chase didn't get off to the best start as George Garton dismissed David Bedingham for a duck. The rest of the Powerplay didn't go well too as Craig Overton had Will Smeed caught at covers. Liam Livingstone came in and struck a couple of sixes but Birmingham Phoenix only had 28/2 after the first 25 balls.
While Moeen Ali struggled to get going, Livingstone really opened up and smashed Jake Lintott for 14 runs off three balls in the eighth set of five. The Phoenix's star batsman continued to motor on as he went after Chris Jordan with good success until a lethargic piece of running saw Tim David run him out from the sweeper cover boundary. Tymal Mills soon got his first wicket by removing Miles Hammond as Phoenix were reduced to 83/4 after 54 balls
The Phoenix skipper Moeen Ali eventually got going and hit a few over the fence but Jake Lintott had the final laugh as the southpaw lofted a full delivery to long-on where Craig Overton held onto a good catch. From there on, Phoenix really struggled as Chris Benjamin and Benny Howell were undone by the wily Southern Brave bowling attack. Howell got three boundaries in the final set of five but it turned out to be too little, too late.
James Vince: They were exceptional through the group stages. Obviously can only be one winner. We haven't batted first much. Paul Stirling and Whiteley were exceptional. Bowlers put in a clinic in the second half there. Stirlo getting himself off to a good start and then playing a match winning innings was superb. Pretty much the only way you can get Livi out at the moment. Exceptional fielding with a little luck to get him out. Been great. He obviously has a great record in the IPL. Not just him, the coaching staff have been fantastic. To get an opportunity to play in front of a full house has been outstanding. Perfect end for us.
Here we go!!! James Vince's men are going to lift the title!! A deserved title for the most balanced team in the competition
Paul Stirling has been named as the 'Man of the Match' for his 61 off 36 balls!!
Paul Stirling: I think it was a brilliant team performance. Everyone chipped in since I've been involved. Another good day for the lads and we finished it off well in the end. I think it was a trickier start than we've had in the recent games. It was two-paced at the start and we saw that in both innings. We needed an injection in the second half of the innings and I'm glad I was able to do part of it before the boys finished it off. We try not to put too much pressure on ourselves playing in front of a full house at Lord's. I was watching the first half of it on the couch on TV but when you get here, it's magnificent.
Liam Livingstone: Obviously very disappointed [we couldn't win] but to play in front of a packed house at Lord's is a great day. We were beaten by a great team. You don't play in finals every day so you want to soak it all in and we were beaten by a better team. I think it's been years of hard work traveling around the world to get better at my own game playing in different franchise tournaments and now it's great to have our own here. To see so many kids here today, it's been great. It's been brilliant. We didn't really know what to expect at the start of the tournament but it's gotten stronger and stronger. Selling out grounds is great and hopefully it can keep growing for the future. Ultimately we were beaten by the better team on the day but it doesn't take away that we played some really good cricket through the tournament.
Now, both The Hundred Men's winner (Southern Brave) and Hundred Women's winner (Oval Invincibles) are lifting the title here
So, that is it from me, Karthik Raj and my co-commentators, Akshay Bhide and Aryasekhar Das Gupta. Do join OneCricket's live coverage of a lot more cricket matches in the coming days