116/4 (17.0)
CR : 6.82
112/7 (20.0)
CR : 5.60
Welsh Fire won by 6 wickets 🏆
Player of the Match
Stephen Eskinazi
43(18)
16.2
1
L Livingstone to T Abell
Leg break on the off-stump line. Abell punches it to backward point for a single.
16.3
1
L Livingstone to D Willey
56 mph. Full and on the stumps. Willey gets the leading edge of the bat that rolls to short backward point for a single.
16.4
0
L Livingstone to T Abell
Tossed up and on the off-stump line. Abell pushes it to short covers.
16.5
4
L Livingstone to T Abell
FOUR! That's it, Abell finishes things with an inside-out! Tossed up and drifting on the stumps. Abell makes room to access the off-side and lofts it over the infield towards extra covers for a boundary. Welsh Fire win by 6 wickets with 15 balls to spare.
Over 17
Welsh Fire 116/4
Tom Abell23(18)
David Willey15(15)
Liam Livingstone0-7(5 b)
WF won by 6 wickets
1:25 AM IST, 8:55 PM Local Time | And with that the Welsh Fire have completed a comprehensive victory over Birmingham Phoenix! The Phoenix's winless streak continues as the lose to the Fire by 6 wickets!
Welsh Fire won the toss and elected to bowl first, and their bowling attack delivered again! After the pacers created early pressure to restrict the Phoenix for 26/0 after the powerplay, Roelof Van der Merwe worked his magic again to open the floodgates and the Phoenix never really recovered.
Apart from the looming danger of Liam Livingstone which was squashed by Haris Rauf at the beginning of the slog overs, no other batter really looked like troubling the Welsh Fire bowling attack as the ensured the Phoenix ended their innings at 112/7 after 100 balls.
Come the chase, Milne started off the first set strongly but soon after Eskinazi turned super saiyan and plastered the Phoenix bowlers. By the time he was done, the scoreboard read 67/0 after 31 balls. Post Eskinazi's wicket things slowed down a bit for the Fire.
Birmingham Phoenix managed to pick 3 further wickets but they were safely guided home by a short partnership between David Willey and Tom Abell. Benny Howell was the pick of the bowlers for his figures of 2/15 after 20 balls but despite his best efforts it was impossible to stop Welsh Fire from clinching victory.
A crucial victory for Welsh Fire who solidify their position in the top tiers of the table while Birmingham Phoenix's disastrous season continues as they remain winless and at rock bottom of the points table.
Welsh Fire won the toss and elected to bowl first, and their bowling attack delivered again! After the pacers created early pressure to restrict the Phoenix for 26/0 after the powerplay, Roelof Van der Merwe worked his magic again to open the floodgates and the Phoenix never really recovered.
Apart from the looming danger of Liam Livingstone which was squashed by Haris Rauf at the beginning of the slog overs, no other batter really looked like troubling the Welsh Fire bowling attack as the ensured the Phoenix ended their innings at 112/7 after 100 balls.
Come the chase, Milne started off the first set strongly but soon after Eskinazi turned super saiyan and plastered the Phoenix bowlers. By the time he was done, the scoreboard read 67/0 after 31 balls. Post Eskinazi's wicket things slowed down a bit for the Fire.
Birmingham Phoenix managed to pick 3 further wickets but they were safely guided home by a short partnership between David Willey and Tom Abell. Benny Howell was the pick of the bowlers for his figures of 2/15 after 20 balls but despite his best efforts it was impossible to stop Welsh Fire from clinching victory.
A crucial victory for Welsh Fire who solidify their position in the top tiers of the table while Birmingham Phoenix's disastrous season continues as they remain winless and at rock bottom of the points table.
Stephen Eskinazi (Hero of the match): "Yeah, outstanding. We played some really good cricket at the start of this competition with a new look side, really exciting, a group of guys that have gelled really quickly, which is really nice, and Hussey has come in and given us a pretty clear way to play our cricket and hopefully, we're building something really nice.
Yeah, I think watching the women's game before and I think there was a Royal London 50 over game on during the week, we thought it was going to be a bit dry, and we thought the new ball was going to be the best time to bat and I think that suits my game down to the ground. It's chanting my arm at the top and trying to get the team off to as good a start as possible. The ball. And as we can see there, all the better because it looked tricky work for the boys coming in and when the pace went off, the board looked really tough.
Yeah, absolutely loving it. I think the coolest thing is being with a really cool group, really enjoying the way we're playing our cricket at the moment. And, yeah, a little bit of a point to prove, maybe, but I think it's more just going out there and trying to win games for Welsh Fire.
Yeah, absolutely loving it. I think the coolest thing is being with a really cool group, really enjoying the way we're playing our cricket at the moment. And, yeah, a little bit of a point to prove, maybe, but I think it's more just going out there and trying to win games for Welsh Fire.
[Speaking about Mike Hussey] Yeah, obviously he's a hero of mine growing up in Western Australia, so it's unreal to be able to chat to him about batting and cricket over the last couple of weeks. But, yeah, I think he's really relaxed. I think in these styles of competitions, when you don't have too long to try and figure things out, it's about giving people the power to go out and play their own way and the confidence to be comfortable in themselves. And I think that's the beauty is everyone can be themselves as a person first and foremost, and then we can go out and play cricket in the way that we know is going to help each other and there's a reason why we're all here."
Moeen Ali | Birmingham Phoenix Captain: "The team is disappointed, we wanted to win and every game is a must win now, we tried everything but tonight has been difficult. Sometimes it downs your morale, we have to go on a winning streak to have a chance. Not a lot to change, just that we do the small things right.
Will Smeed, me and Liam, guys like us we like the pace on the bat, we had the bowling for this wicket but the batting faltered. It was not going to be easy and we took 5-10 balls and then tried to hit but could not get going. Liam is one of the players who can go after just a shot or two.
I think we started pretty badly and we were a little bit full and they got off to a flying start. We tried to pull it back but it was difficult to win from there. But sometimes showing the fight is necessary and that was the only positive. I know you can't win every game but all 4 are now must wins. Hopefully, the sun will be out and we get to play in front of the home crowd."
Will Smeed, me and Liam, guys like us we like the pace on the bat, we had the bowling for this wicket but the batting faltered. It was not going to be easy and we took 5-10 balls and then tried to hit but could not get going. Liam is one of the players who can go after just a shot or two.
I think we started pretty badly and we were a little bit full and they got off to a flying start. We tried to pull it back but it was difficult to win from there. But sometimes showing the fight is necessary and that was the only positive. I know you can't win every game but all 4 are now must wins. Hopefully, the sun will be out and we get to play in front of the home crowd."
Well that's all she wrote for today folks. A dominant victory for the Welsh Fire tonight! Stay Tuned for more action from our coverage of the men's Hundred.
This is Anirudh Modi, signing off along with my co-commentator Deepak Prakash and our scorer/analyst Paras Yadav! See you on the next one.