9:24 PM IST, 4:54 PM Local Time: ABANDONED! The inevitable has happened and that is it for tonight from the first Men's game of the Super Saturday.
Despite the persistent rain earlier in the day, the groundsmen did a tremendous job to get this game started on time with the London Spirit captain Dan Lawrence opting to bowl first after winning the toss.
Manchester Originals' openers Jos Buttler and Phil Salt gave the team a flying start, spanking the Spirit bowlers left, right and centre, stitching 44 runs. Salt was given a life early on as Lawrence dropped a sitter at extra cover and boy, he made them pay with a blistering knock of 21 off just 9 balls, including 3 maximums. Dan Worrall (1/15) had the last laugh at the hard-hitting Salt as he was judged out via a successful review from London Spirit on the caught behind.
Buttler continued his onslaught and smoked 3 fours and 5 sixes in his excellent innings of 62 off 36 balls. Jos the Boss added 67 runs for the second wicket alongside Max Holden (24 off 16) as the Manchester-based franchise clubbed over the 100-run mark in no time. There was a rain interruption in between and the match was reduced to 90 balls per side.
The spinners of the bowling side- Matthew Critchley (1/30) and Liam Dawson (1/27) pegged back the batting side with quick wickets of Holden and Laurie Evans before the experienced Ravi Bopara (2/13) showed his magic with the ball. Bopara executed a well-disguised knuckleball yorker, cleaning up Buttler before he took care of Paul Walter.
The rain started to fall down heavily yet again when Manchester where at 138/5 in 80 balls, with Ashton Turner (16* off 10) and Jamie Overton (2* off 4) trying to finish off the innings. The rain didn't allow any further chance for the resumption and the umpires called off the game.
So both Men's and Women's game was abandoned due to continuous rainfall with the latest game having 80 balls in it. The points are shared and we hope, this is the last time, we had an abandonment in the tournament!