131/7 (19.4)
CR : 6.66
127/7 (20.0)
CR : 6.35
Birmingham Phoenix won by 3 wickets 🏆
Player of the Match
Sean Anthony Abbott
4/143(5)
Just evades the backward point fielder. Howell heads back for the 2nd. Dawson has his hands on the hips. The Moeen Ali-led side need 1 run from 2 balls. The scorers are level.
19.4
4
L Dawson to B Howell
FOURRR!! Howell hits the winning runs for the Phoenix as they win by 3 wickets. Birmingham Phoenix win their first game of the season. Overpitched delivery at the stumps, Howell backs away to give himself room and smashes it over the covers for a boundary to win the game for his side. A fantastic cameo from Howell who got his side over the line. He his pumped up and celebrates with a fist pump with his partner who was brilliant with the ball in the 1st Innings.
BP won by 3 wickets
2:04 AM IST and 9:34 PM Local Time: A power show from Benny Howell finishes the nervy chase in style and flexes his biceps as Birmingham Phoenix get off the blocks with a three-wicket win over London Spirit at the Lord's!
Earlier in the match, the Phoenix won the toss and opted to field first. Tim Southee trapped Daniel Bell-Drummond in the second set before Sean Anthony Abbott ran through the Spirit top and middle order for fun in the matter of eight balls, bagging four quick scalps.
At one stage, London Spirit were reduced to 5/30 before Liam Dawson (36 off 34), Shimron Hetmyer (16 off 16) and Andre Russell (37* off 20) turned up with valuable contributions with the bat as the hosts posted a respectable 127/7 in 100 balls.
Abbott (4/14), Southee (2/16) and Benny Howell (1/18) were among the wickets for the Phoenix, who had introduced eight different bowlers in the attack.
Birmingham Phoenix was also put to the sword, with the ball moving both ways, and they were reduced to 4/20 in 23 balls. Dan Worrall (2/15) and Olly Stone breathed fire, sharing the wickets unequally with the new ball. Stone also inflicted a cheeky run-out at the bowler's end to send Livingstone back to the pavilion.
Two young Warwickshire left-handers, Jacob Bethell (43 off 27) and Dan Mousley (39 off 38) rebuilt brilliantly with a 69-run fifth-wicket stand, but both threw their wickets away, showing inexperience, with Stone (2/14) breaking this partnership with an amazing caught and bowled dismissal to remove the latter.
The match got interesting in the end, with Liam Dawson (2/15) getting a couple of wickets and keeping tight lines and lengths, taking it till the end. Howell (24* off 12) kept his cool and hit the winning runs with a ball in hand to seal the deal with a boundary.
Stay tuned for the post-match presentations!
Earlier in the match, the Phoenix won the toss and opted to field first. Tim Southee trapped Daniel Bell-Drummond in the second set before Sean Anthony Abbott ran through the Spirit top and middle order for fun in the matter of eight balls, bagging four quick scalps.
At one stage, London Spirit were reduced to 5/30 before Liam Dawson (36 off 34), Shimron Hetmyer (16 off 16) and Andre Russell (37* off 20) turned up with valuable contributions with the bat as the hosts posted a respectable 127/7 in 100 balls.
Abbott (4/14), Southee (2/16) and Benny Howell (1/18) were among the wickets for the Phoenix, who had introduced eight different bowlers in the attack.
Birmingham Phoenix was also put to the sword, with the ball moving both ways, and they were reduced to 4/20 in 23 balls. Dan Worrall (2/15) and Olly Stone breathed fire, sharing the wickets unequally with the new ball. Stone also inflicted a cheeky run-out at the bowler's end to send Livingstone back to the pavilion.
Two young Warwickshire left-handers, Jacob Bethell (43 off 27) and Dan Mousley (39 off 38) rebuilt brilliantly with a 69-run fifth-wicket stand, but both threw their wickets away, showing inexperience, with Stone (2/14) breaking this partnership with an amazing caught and bowled dismissal to remove the latter.
The match got interesting in the end, with Liam Dawson (2/15) getting a couple of wickets and keeping tight lines and lengths, taking it till the end. Howell (24* off 12) kept his cool and hit the winning runs with a ball in hand to seal the deal with a boundary.
Stay tuned for the post-match presentations!
Time for the Post Match Presentations.
Hero of the Match - Sean Abbott
Sean Abbott (Hero of the Match) : "Yeah the feedback from the guys who opened the bowling was that there was a little bit of seam movement so I was just aiming to get the ball in the right area. I think, not going for runs is the main thing in this league and if you can pickup some wickets along the way is a bonus.
The first couple of games have favored the bowlers and I probably did not expect so much of seam movement like it was tonight. Well I did my best with the bat along with Howell and really happy to get over the line."
The first couple of games have favored the bowlers and I probably did not expect so much of seam movement like it was tonight. Well I did my best with the bat along with Howell and really happy to get over the line."
Moeen Ali (Birmingham Phoenix Captain): "Yeah it was a great game of cricket at the end. Our two young batters batted brilliantly and really happy with the performance. Yeah the wicket was doing too much early on in the Innings and we just wanted to restrict them to a low total.
Really happy with the performance of Abbott, we wanted such kind of a bowler who is comfortable to bowl at any stage of the game. Southee is vast experienced and really happy with the way he keeps things simple and bowls. Our bowling attack is really good and we know we have a good bunch of players. Bethell batted brilliantly and I hope he plays for England someday in the future. He is really relaxed at the middle and I am surprised that he is just 20 years old.
At the end I was a little worried but we knew we had the batting coming up to get the job done for us. Overall a good performance from our boys and really happy to get the points on the board."
Really happy with the performance of Abbott, we wanted such kind of a bowler who is comfortable to bowl at any stage of the game. Southee is vast experienced and really happy with the way he keeps things simple and bowls. Our bowling attack is really good and we know we have a good bunch of players. Bethell batted brilliantly and I hope he plays for England someday in the future. He is really relaxed at the middle and I am surprised that he is just 20 years old.
At the end I was a little worried but we knew we had the batting coming up to get the job done for us. Overall a good performance from our boys and really happy to get the points on the board."
That is the end of our live coverage. A thrilling win for the Phoenix to open their account. We will be back with more action. Don't forget to join us for those. For now, this is me AkshayaKrishna Polya, signing off on behalf of my co-commentator Pritam Dey, and scorer/analyst Paras Yadav, who brought you all the live action of this mouth-watering match. We will meet again. Until then, its cheers!