Zampa’s Invincibles retain Hundred title, beating Brave
Australia spinner Adam Zampa has helped Oval Invincibles become back-to-back champions of the men’s Hundred competition in a resounding 17-run victory over Southern Brave at Lord’s.
With Brave set a target of 148 for victory, the final was in the balance before three wickets in six balls from Saqib Mahmood ripped the stuffing out of their run-chase and saw Invincibles become the first side to register four trophies across the men’s and women’s competitions.
England seamer Mahmood removed Leus Du Plooy, Kieron Pollard and Laurie Evans between the 72nd and 78th balls and when Zampa bowled Chris Jordan four balls later, the game was settled as a contest.
Zampa had earlier bowled top-scoring opener Alex Davies (35) with a googly in his second set of five when the Brave had reached 0-58, and he finished with figures of 2-26.
The Invincibles’ score of 9-147 came thanks to cameos from Will Jacks, Jordan Cox, Sam Curran and Tom Curran, and it proved to enough to successfully defend their crown from 12 months ago.
Jacks set the tone for the Invincibles, slapping the first ball he faced from Jofra Archer for six and not letting up thereafter, racing to 37 from just 22 balls.
Sam Curran and Cox both made sprightly 25s, but their two dismissals book-ended a mini collapse for last year’s champions. They lost four wickets across nine balls to leave themselves on 6-102 with one quarter of their innings remaining.
Step up Tom Curran, the hero of last year’s final. The elder of the Curran brothers sparkled with an 11-ball 24 to lift up Invincibles to 147.
It was a total that may have left both sides fancying their chances of winning going into the second half of the match – hovering around the average score for men’s games at the venue, but also requiring the highest successful chase in the Hundred’s history at Lord’s.
Either way, Brave wanted a quick start in the Powerplay and while James Vince and Davies (35) took them to 18 without after the first 10 balls, they struggled to accelerate away.
By the time Zampa delivered his first set of five, Brave were looking at an increasingly demanding equation that required 100 runs from 65 balls.
Jacks then delivered with the ball to remove Vince for 23 before Nathan Sowter dismissed James Coles for four.
Du Plooy (20) and Evans (16) then put Brave well back in the game – 53 needed from 30 – before Mahmood came back into the attack to deliver three fatal blows to hand Oval Invincibles their second successive the Hundred trophy.
-with AAP
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