Oval Invincibles secured passage to the knock-out rounds of The Hundred after a Jordan Cox 50 took them to a straight-forward victory over London Spirit at The Kia Oval last weekend.
Cox rounded off a good week after being selected for the England Men’s Test team by finishing things off with a six to end up 61 not out from just 30 balls, and to take his team to a nine-wicket victory.
The result was all but settled by the half-way mark, the already-eliminated Spirit able only to post 96 from the first innings.
Michael Pepper started well for the visitors, attacking the powerplay for an 18-ball 27, but when he fell – bowled by Adam Zampa – the die was cast.
Twenty-one balls later Spirit were 52-5, with Ollie Pope, Shimron Hetmyer and Andre Russell back in the hutch. They never recovered, with Zampa continuing his fine tournament with 4-17.
Ollie Stone – like Cox, in England Men’s squad for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka – ran in hard as Spirit sought to defend 96 but it was a case of when and not if for Invincibles, and Cox ended it with 37 balls to spare.
The win means Sam Billings’ side – who have won six of their seven games – are guaranteed a place in the top three of the men’s competition, with their final game against Trent Rockets deciding whether they’ll head straight to The Hundred Final on Sunday, August 18 or if they will need to progress through The Hundred Eliminator the day before.
Zampa said: “I’m pleased with that performance. They put us under the pump in the powerplay early but yet again there was a bit of purchase in the surface and the boys dragged it back really well through the middle.
“We’ve been playing really good cricket throughout. Today we knew how important it was to get the win. Finishing first and hopefully going straight through to Lord’s, we’ve potentially made it really tough for anyone to overtake us from here. It’s really important next game that we make that a certainty.”
Meanwhile, a half-century from Lauren Winfield-Hill took Oval Invincibles to a crucial win against London Spirit in front of 14,721 fans in The Hundred at The Kia Oval.
Chasing 120, Invincibles captain Winfield-Hill made 61 from 40 balls – her first half-century this season – and combined effectively with Marizanne Kapp to make light work of a chase that could have been far more taxing.
That Invincibles had anything to chase was down to the first-innings heroics of Indian all-rounder Deepti Sharma, who guided the visitors to a total of 120-8 from the perilous position of 47-7.
Sharma and Eva Gray rebuilt with a record eight-wicket partnership after Invincibles bowlers took a wicket apiece to get ahead of the game early on – Kapp winning the battle of overseas superstars with a third-ball dismissal of Meg Lanning.
The game was in the balance at the interval but Winfield-Hill batted intelligently throughout, nullifying the threat of Spirit’s trio of spinners by manipulating the field and accessing behind square with ease. Chances were few and far between, though Spirit could have sent Winfield-Hill on her way had they opted to review a tight LBW call that went against the bowler Dani Gibson.
Kapp came in after birthday girl Alice Capsey was bowled ramping, and added some impetus to the foundations laid by Winfield-Hill to see the chase ticked off with nine balls to go.
Invincibles’ win confirmed Manchester Originals’ tournament is over, but more importantly for the home side leaves them in control of their own destiny with one game to go ahead of The Hundred Eliminator and The Hundred Final.
