1:28 AM IST, 8:58 PM Local Time: That’s it. The Birmingham Phoenix finish the Men’s Hundred 2023 Competition on a high. They avoid the last position in the points table by beating London Spirit comprehensively tonight by 77 runs. As their skipper Moeen Ali said at the toss, they entertained the crowd with some brilliant ball-striking before their bowlers knocked over London Spirit on 108 to finish on a winning note.

In the chase of 186, the London Spirit were blown away by Adam Milne. He bowled exceptionally with the new ball. He cleaned up Zak Crawley on two in the first set and dismissed Michael-Kyle Pepper on the very next ball. He cleaned up Matthew Wade on a duck with a beauty. He bowled with shearing pace and Spirit skipper Daniel Lawrence fell on six while trying to up the ante. The visitors were reeling at 30/4 at the end of the powerplay.

Daniel Bell-Drummond along with Daryl Mitchell tried to resurrect the innings. They stitched a 26-run stand for the fourth wicket before Bell-Drummond fell on 23. Mitchell looked settled at the crease but lacked support from the other end. The Spirit kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Mitchell brought up his fifty and got cleaned up on 57 as they got bundled out on 108 to lose the game by 77 runs. Milne for Phoenix picked up four wickets and gave away only 20 runs in his four sets. Tanveer Sangha and Liam Livingstone chipped in with three and two scalps respectively.

Earlier, the Phoenix got off to the worst possible start as they lost Will Smeed on the very first ball of the match. In walked Jamie Smith and continued his rich form with the bat. He played some wonderful strokes and was well-supported by Ben Duckett from the other end. Smith brought up his fifty but fell soon as the 94-run stand came to an end. Skipper Moeen Ali started aggressively and scored a quickfire 32 off 14 balls before falling in the 16th set.

Tim Southee picked up his third wicket by dismissing Ben Duckett three short of his fifty in the same set. Liam Livingstone fell cheaply but a brilliant cameo from Benny Howell (23* off 10 balls) in the end helped Phoenix post 185 on the board for the loss of five wickets. Tim Southee was sensational with the ball for Spirit. He registered figures of 3/23 in his 20 balls. Liam Dawson and Jordan Thompson also grabbed a wicket each but were on the expensive side.

The Phoenix bowlers then stepped up and defended the total successfully to win the game by 77 runs. With this, the league stages of the Men’s Hundred 2023 Competition come to an end and the finals begin on Saturday.