Oval Invincibles retain Hundred title by beating Southern Brave

Sam Billings' side became the first to retain the men's Hundred title, overcoming Brave after James Vince had won the toss at Lord's and opted for a run-chase on Sunday evening

ECB Media | 18/08/2024 at 21:13

Lord's: Oval Invincibles 147-9, Southern Brave 130-7 - Oval Invincibles win by 17 runs

Oval Invincibles became back-to-back champions of The Hundred men's competition with a resounding victory over Southern Brave at Lord's.

With Southern Brave chasing 148 for victory, the game was in the balance before three wickets in six balls from Saqib Mahmood ripped the stuffing out of Brave and saw Invincibles become the first side to register four trophies across the men's and women's competitions.

Mahmood removed Leus Du Plooy, Kieron Pollard and Laurie Evans from balls 72 to 78 and when Chris Jordan followed them back into the pavilion four balls later the game was settled as a contest.

The England seamer's timely and vital burst added to a number of individual performances from Invincibles that combined to form a winning team effort.

Their total of 147 for 9 was formed of cameos from Will Jacks, Jordan Cox, Sam Curran and Tom Curran, a total that eventually proved a winning one.

Jacks set the tone for Invincibles, slapping the first ball he faced from Jofra Archer for six and not letting up thereafter, racing to 37 from just 22 balls.

He was given a life on 31, in an eventful set of five from Akeal Hosein. The England man went four, four, six before the notorious bucket hands of Kieron Pollard sprung a leak at long-on and granted Jacks a reprieve.

Curran and Cox both made sprightly 25s, but their two dismissals book-ended a mini collapse for last year's champions. They lost 4 for 9 across nine balls to leave themselves 102 for 6 with one quarter of their innings to come.

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^{Saqib Mahmood's spell swung the game in Oval Invincibles' direction (Philip Brown/Getty Images)}

Step up Tom Curran, the hero of last year's final. The elder of the Curran brothers sparkled with an 11-ball 24 to lift up Invincibles to 147 for 9.

It was a total that may have left both sides fancying their chances of winning going into the second half of the match – hovering around the average score for men's games at the venue but also requiring the highest successful chase in The Hundred's history at Lord's.

Either way, Brave wanted a quick start in the powerplay and while James Vince and Alex Davies took them to 18 without loss after the first 10 balls they struggled to accelerate away.

By the time Adam Zampa delivered his first set of five, Brave were looking at an increasingly demanding equation that required 100 runs from 65 balls. Jacks then delivered with the ball to remove James Vince, before Nathan Sowter dismissed James Coles.

Du Plooy and Evans then put Brave well back in the game – 53 needed from 30 – before Mahmood came back into the attack to deliver three fatal blows to Brave and with it take Oval Invincibles to the Hundred trophy.

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