Sam Billings hails Will Jacks for "coming-of-age knock"

Jacks cracked 81 off 45 balls as Oval Invincibles overwhelmed Welsh Fire to get off the mark in the men's Hundred

Oval Invincibles captain Sam Billings believes Will Jacks can become a star of The Hundred after he smashed the best individual score of the 2022 tournament. 

The 23-year-old made 81 from 45 balls to take Invincibles to a comprehensive 39-run victory against Welsh Fire in Cardiff and further furnish his growing reputation.

"He put the game out of distance for them with a real class knock," said Billings, who will captain Jacks for England Lions this week after they were both called up to play South Africa.

"He had the composure to sit in and sit in before going hard at the end. It was a coming-of-age knock for him in this format.

"We've seen him be so good this year with the red ball, and how destructive he can be, but today was a different type of knock."

^{Jason Roy's troubles continued as he made just 10 (Dan Mullan/Getty Images)}

Billings also backed his teammate Jason Roy to regain his form after a difficult summer for the Surrey and England opener. 

"We have the utmost faith in him as a squad," he added.

"We know that towards the back end of this tournament if he is firing and in form, it will put us in a much better place. 

"We've played so much together in different franchises around the world. We've both been able to chat to each other during difficult periods before and we've been here before. It is a matter of being there for him, being supportive and being a mate."

"The Hundred is the most relaxing month of the season. We have eight games to play, whereas in June we had 20 days of cricket. We are quite enjoying the tournament"

Jacks was happy with the team's performance and described the winning margin as "comfortable".

"We figured early on that it wasn't the easiest wicket to get under the ball," said Jacks.

"We found it hard up top because it was skidding in low. That's why we started reasonably slowly. It was about taking it deep and using our wickets in hand."

"That was pretty convincing in the end, really good. A 39-run win is pretty good in 100-ball cricket.

Joe Clarke's Welsh Fire were again on the wrong side of the result (Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

"The Hundred is the most relaxing month of the season. We have eight games to play, whereas in June we had 20 days of cricket. We are quite enjoying the tournament."

Welsh Fire continued their struggles with the bat, toiling to post 119 for 6 from their 100 balls. Wicketkeeper Joe Clarke, who top-scored with 37 from 29 balls, including two sixes, believes the pitch favoured batting in the Invincibles innings.

"In hindsight, we should have batted first on a slow wicket," he said.

"At one stage I thought we were going to restrict them to 120 or 130 which would have been gettable, but they got too many in the end."

Things will become even more difficult next week as Ollie Pope will leave to join up with the England men's Test squad, following Jonny Bairstow’s decision to pull out of the competition.

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