MI London had the lights turned out on their hopes of claiming a fourth straight Hundred title despite beating bottom-placed Birmingham Phoenix in a nip-and-tuck final men’s group match.
As the Edgbaston crowd were treated to a solar eclipse, the visitors knew they needed to win by at least 59 runs to take third position from SunRisers Leeds and qualify for the play-off on their home patch after Phoenix won a crucial toss and elected to field.
A total of 157-6 meant they would progress if they could restrict Phoenix to 98, and three wickets in the powerplay put a spring in their step, Sikandar Raza clean bowling Joe Clarke and Richard Gleeson dismissing Mitchell Owen and Laurie Evans with consecutive deliveries to pull clear as the competition’s leading wicket-taker with 14 victims.
However, a solid partnership between Jake Weatherley and Sean Dickson steadied the ship and a Tom Curran wide took Phoenix to 99 and ended MI London’s slim hopes.
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Spectators look up at the sky as the solar eclipse can be seen during MI London’s game with Birmingham Phoenix at Edgbaston
Dickson (23 from 17) fell lbw to Sam Curran, who then had Weatherley (42 from 31) caught in the deep as the hosts lost momentum but Jordan Thompson (23no from 13) and Rehan Ahmed (23 from 11) took them close before Trent Boult held his nerve, nailing his late yorkers to seal a two-run victory.
Earlier, Will Jacks had made a positive start for MI London before falling to Chris Wood after slicing to deep point. James Vince looked in good touch and Nicholas Pooran announced his arrival by dispatching Tom Helm for 10 runs in two deliveries, but Helm came back to bowl Vince (22 off 12) with a back-of-the-hand slowie.
Rehan then put the brakes on by deceiving Sam Curran with a googly and conceded just three runs from his first 10 deliveries, including six consecutive dots.
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Nasser Hussain and Stuart Broad reveal their choices for best local player in The Hundred men’s competition, best captain and more!
Thompson took the key wicket of Pooran (36 from 21) when the Trinidadian holed out to long-off before Jason Roy (26 off 21) became Rehan’s second victim. Curiously, boasting figures of 2-7 from 15 balls, the leg-spinner was not called upon to complete his quota.
Raza (17 from 13), Ollie Sykes (23no off 14) on debut and Tom Curran (17no off 9) played useful cameos but MI London’s total never looked sufficient to produce the miracle they needed.
With the reigning champions eliminated from the competition, SunRisers Leeds will now play Manchester Super Giants on Friday evening at The Kia Oval, with the prize of a Lord’s final against Trent Rockets at stake.
Gleeson said: “To win five games and not qualify when two teams have done the same as us is disappointing, but that shows the strength of the competition and you’ve got to be on top of your game all the way through – 30, 40, 50 runs can make a big difference.”
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Broad misunderstood a message about when we’ll see the next solar eclipse, leaving co-commentators Hussain and Simon Doull in stitches!
Spirit end Hundred campaign with tight win over Fire
Welsh Fire and London Spirit’s men’s teams found themselves in similar positions to their female counterparts – unable to qualify for The Hundred eliminator at The Oval on Friday, let alone Sunday’s final at Lord’s.
Qualification was statistically possible for Fire but it would have meant a record-breaking margin of victory, their four wins having been close affairs and their losses heavy ones.
But that did not mean a lack of competitive spirit in front of a boisterous Cardiff crowd as the Spirit manfully defended 131 to claim a third win of the campaign.
Fire chose to bowl after winning the toss. And that decision paid off initially, Chris Woakes showing his enduring brilliance up front in shackling the powerful pairing of Jonny Bairstow and Lhuan-dre Pretorius, allowing Lockie Ferguson to benefit from the pressure applied by picking up the South African the ball after he had him dropped.
A score of 34-1 from the powerplay with Bairstow on 22 from 11, was an inconclusive start. Twenty-five balls later and it was 59-3, with the Fire in the ascendancy, Woakes having got rid of Bairstow for 34 from 19, Marco Jansen having bowled 10 dot balls in his first 15.
Liam Livingstone and Dewald Brevis, Spirit’s leading run-scorers in the tournament with 233 and 212, both went cheaply, and James Coles, belatedly growing into the tournament, flickered for 29 until all 6ft 8in of Jansen leapt at long-off to flick the ball back in for Tom Kohler-Cadmore to complete the catch.
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‘Anyone else it’s six!’ | Marco Jansen uses all of his 6ft 8in frame to take a catch!
Jamie Overton applied the long handle but a score of 131-8 felt light, with both Woakes and Jansen going for under a run ball.
When Fire batted, they lost Matt Short immediately but Phil Salt and Joe Root cruised along, the feeling that wickets in the bank chasing a middling target would be enough.
At 90-2 off 69 balls, with Jordan Cox flexing his muscles, that thinking seemed sound but the glue disappeared with Root (31 from 31) and Cox (44 from 28). Kohler-Cadmore, Ravindra and Jansen disappeared in the last eight balls to leave the Fire just one hit away, losing by six runs.
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