Yesterday afternoon and evening at The Oval saw the Eliminator matches in T he Hundred. This post looks back at both matches.
SOUTHERN BRAVE V SUN RISERS LEEDS
Brave had tailed off after a superb start to the season, while Sun Risers had qualified at the last gap, by winning their final group match. Brave had the best bowling unit in the tournament but their batting had largely not fired. This match encapsulated their season. They managed only 114 from their 100 balls, and although they got both their opponents Australian superstars, Phoebe Litchfield and Annabel Sutherland, cheaply they never looked like defending an inadequate total. Thus it will Sun Risers Leeds taking on Trent Rockets at Lord’s tomorrow.
MANCHESTER SUPERGIANTS V SUN RISERS LEEDS
Manchester Super Giants were put into bat, and responded brilliantly. ‘Tall Paul’ Walter who began his career as a bowler who could bat but has morphed in the last couple of years into a highly proficient opening batter who only bowls occasionally played a superb innings, and found explosive support from Heinrich Klaasen. Walter with 80 off 46 balls including three fours and eight sixes was the rock on which a massive score was built, while Klaasen with 63 from just 26 balls, with six fours and four sixes had at one point put them in a position from which 200+ was a possibility. In the end they managed 186-4, a formidable total in this format. ‘The Bison’, also known as Mitchell Marsh, and Zak Crawley were both out cheaply in reply, but Ryan Rickelton and Harry Brook had a fine partnership. Once Brook was out for 49, pinned LBW by Sonny Baker no one else really threatened, though Liam Patterson-White and Tom Lawes each produced entertaining cameos with the match already lost. Patterson-White, sixth out, was the fourth victim of Josh Tongue, to go with Marsh, Crawley and Dan Lawrence. Super Giants had used their seamers to effectively terminate the Sun Risers challenge, and now Liam Dawson, not used at all in the first 90 balls of the innings, bowled all of the last ten. He claimed the wicket of Brydon Carse, and conceded 13 runs. Sun Risers ended on 166-7, beaten by exactly 20 runs. In a massive scoring match Josh Tongue’s 4-26 from 20 balls was a deserving winner of ‘match hero’. It will therefore by Manchester Super Giants v Trent Rockets (Rockets won both the women’s and men’s league stages and thus qualified direct into both finals) in the men’s final at Lord’s tomorrow evening.
PHOTOGRAPHS
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