Oval Invincibles became the Champions of Men’s The Hundred 2023 competition defeating Manchester Originals in a closely fought finals played at Lords, London on 27th August 2023. Manchester Originals captain Jos Buttler won the toss and decided to field first.
It was an ideal start for the Manchester Originals side Gleeson dismissed Jason Roy on the 3rd delivery with a simple catch to Jos Buttler. Paul Stirling was included in playing but could not make any contributions dismissed by Tom Hartley. Manchester Originals bowlers put enough pressure on the batters and grabbed 3 more wickets in quick succession to leave Oval Invincibles in massive trouble at 34 for 5.
James Neesham and Tom Curran arrived at the crease putting on an excellent display of batting not allowing the Original’s bowlers to settle. Tom Curran looked in great touch hitting boundaries and sixes at will to keep scoreboard ticking. Tom completed his half-century off 26 deliveries while Neesham reached fifty off 29 balls. Thanks to an unbeaten 117-run partnership for the 6th wicket, Oval Invincibles recovered to 161 for 5 in 100 balls.
Chasing 162 runs to win, Phil Salt and Jos Buttler got off to a decent start hitting some lovely strokes. Tom Curran got the breakthrough dismissing Salt with a good catch by Sam Curran. Salt and Buttler added 34 runs for the opening wicket in 22 balls. Danny Briggs dismissed Originals captain Jos Buttler to leave Manchester Originals on the backfoot.
Sowter then got rid of Wayne Madsen cheaply while Will Jacks got rid of Laurie Evans to leave Manchester Originals in big trouble. Max Holden provided some resistance along with Jamie Overton. Sam Curran dismissed Holden with a brilliant delivery. Holden and Overton added 42 runs for the 6th wicket.
Jamie Overton and Tom Hartley tried their best, but they could not cross the line. Oval Invincibles won the match by 14 runs. Will Jacks took 2 wickets for 11 runs off 15 deliveries, and Danny Briggs, Nathan Sowter, Tom Curran, and Sam Curran took 1 wicket each.
Your 2023 men’s champions…
🏆 OVAL INVINCIBLES 🏆#TheHundred pic.twitter.com/gCsVZvm5NA
— The Hundred (@thehundred) August 27, 2023
Oval Invincibles became the Champions For the First Time
Oval Invincibles became the Champions of Men’s Hundred competition for the first time. Their performance in this year’s competition was outstanding as they finished as table toppers in the league stage with 6 wins, 1 loss, and 1 Tie match.
Will Jacks finished as the leading run-getter for Oval Invincibles side with 227 runs from 9 matches (9 innings) with best score of 68. Heinrich Klassen made important contributions with 189 runs from 7 matches ( 7 innings) with 1 half-century including the best score of 60.
The spinner Nathan Sowter finished as the leading wicket-taker for the Oval side with 11 wickets from 9 matches (9 innings) at an economy of 9.60 runs per over including best figures of 3/34. Gus Atkinson made also decent contributions with the ball picking up 10 wickets from 6 matches (6 innings) at an economy of 9 runs per over including best figures of 3 for 24.
Oval Invincibles finished fourth in the 2021 edition and 5th in the 2022 edition of the Hundred competition. Their performance during this year’s competition stood out losing only 1 match.
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