Southern Brave scuttle past Originals with 1-wicket win as James Anderson endures a rather listless Hundred debut.
Southern Brave sneak home as Anderson falls flat on Hundred debut.
Reece Topley led Southern Brave to a thrilling and surprising one-wicket victory over Manchester Originals in the Hundred by carving his opening delivery and the penultimate ball of the game for four runs.
Craig Overton (18 not out off 8) and Tymal Mills (8 off 4) had pulled the game back from the home team’s clutches with a crucial 25-run combination when last man Topley walked out with three runs needed from two balls.
When Michael Bracewell was caught behind by Scott Currie (4 for 28), the equation was 28 needed from 13, and the Manchester Originals would have been the wise choice. After an innings in which 17-year-old Farhan Ahmed (0 for 8 off five balls) and 43-year-old James Anderson (0 for 36) made their competitive debuts, Phil Salt may be wondering how his squad failed to cross the finish line.
“We managed to somehow get ourselves in a position where it was in our hands, one hit away,” Mills said. “Credit to Manchester Originals, they bowled really well for the best part of the innings but Craig pulled out some big hits at the end. It’s always good to win close games like that and it stands us in good stead for the rest of the season.
“Bat on ball was the main thing. We needed to hit every ball and scamper as best we could, and obviously we managed to get a couple of boundaries in there as well – that was a brilliant knock from Craig. We just wanted to take it as deep as we could and Toppers finished it off brilliantly.”
Prior to being named Meerkat Match Hero, Mills had took 3 for 22, including the wickets of Salt, Jos Buttler, and Heinrich Klaasen, as the Originals amassed 132 for 4. Salt was the home team’s star player, scoring 60 runs off of 41 balls and surpassing James Vince to become the men’s hundred’s all-time top scorer.
“I think it was a wicket that rewarded you for hitting the pitch hard,” Mills added. “We saw in the Powerplay that we were perhaps a little bit full, but once we dragged our lengths back and hit the pitch hard there was a little bit of bounce there and we saw that when Manchester Originals were bowling as well. We were happy halfway with that score, and we were confident of chasing it, but we probably made a little bit more hard work of it than we would have liked.”