The Analysis: Sam Curran stands up for Oval Invincibles

NICK FRIEND: In the absence of the Roy-Narine-Topley axis, Sam Curran stood up with the ball for Oval Invincibles

With Sunil Narine's departure from Oval Invincibles for the soon-to-begin Caribbean Premier League, there came the suspicion that runs might come more easily against Sam Billings' side. No regular bowler, after all, has a tournament economy rate that comes near to the Trinidadian's.

But when that theory was tested in a must-win game, Invincibles had an answer.

Peter Hatzoglou was drafted in as Narine's replacement – hardly like-for-like and certainly not of the same stature on the franchise circuit – to add a sense of mystery and unexpectedness among a group of players at Spirit who, other than his fellow Australians in the home team's top three, wouldn't have seen him in the flesh.

As it was, he scuttled his first legitimate delivery through Ben McDermott for an early wicket and was tight enough thereafter, even as London Spirit's batters came to recognise that the danger-ball was likelier to skid through than turn sharply.

Invincibles were also missing Reece Topley, who has ruled himself out for the remainder of the competition to look after his body ahead of a busy winter. Jason Roy was also missing, desperately struggling for form and said to have failed a fitness test on a stiff back.

The absence of the Roy-Narine-Topley axis wasn't one for which Invincibles would have prepared in advance, even if Narine's stay was always set to be curtailed. But missing those linchpins has meant for a greater emphasis on Sam Curran as a senior player and an England allrounder.

^{Eoin Morgan's London Spirit were well beaten (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)}

Only three men ever properly got in for Spirit, and all three were dismissed by the left-armer: Adam Rossington and Ravi Bopara trapped in front by full, straight deliveries, before Jordan Thompson spooned an off-cutter to short third man. It was a clinic, emphasised by his figures and crowned with a celebrappeal for the ages for the lbw of Bopara, which was inexplicably reviewed for good measure.

"He's a world-class bowler," said Curran, reflecting on how his side coped without Narine, defending a short boundary to one side against the tournament's early frontrunners. "He's done it for so long, he's done it for Surrey, he's done it for Invincibles this whole season.

"He's a massive loss but I thought Hatzoglou bowled beautifully tonight; he's obviously new to the competition, which is great. No one has really seen him, I thought he bowled really well. Nathan Sowter too – Tom (Curran) bowled really economically, and [Matt Milnes] as well."

Curran's older brother was equally miserly, recording the same figures – 16 runs conceded in 20 balls – only without the reward of three wickets. Instead, he had nothing to show for it, but Spirit's total of 122 for 7 was shown to be well below-par. In Roy's absence, once again Will Jacks took on the mantle, making 54 at the top of the order to break the back of a routine run-chase that was never in trouble.

Part of that was down to a high-class fielding display that peaked with Milnes' remarkable one-handed catch at backward point – as Curran put it at the close, it was the performance of a team that knows it's at match point.

^{Sam Curran took three wickets for Oval Invincibles (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)}

"Always at Lord's, there seems to be a short side," he added, returning to their fielding display. "You have to go with your gut-feel. The wicket this evening, it felt like the slower balls were really gripping. It was a fantastic victory for the guys.

"It looked like a really good pitch – the girls played before us, so that might have taken a bit of wear and tear on there. The cutters were gripping, and it was one of those wickets that was a little bit slow and quite hard to time it. That's what helped us when we played; we knew how to bat on it because we watched the way we bowled."

They move up to third as a result, still a win behind their local rivals but within touching distance of a knockout berth. Spirit, for all their early hard work, aren't over the line yet either.