Manchester Originals 130 for 8 (Buttler 45, Mills 3-27) were defeated by Southern Brave 134 for 4 (Conway 54*) by six wickets.
With three more wickets, Tymal Mills extended his outstanding Men’s Hundred campaign, helping the Southern Brave defeat the Manchester Originals by six wickets at Emirates Old Trafford as they chased 131 and earn a spot in Saturday’s Eliminator against the same opposition.
With their fourth victory in eight games, the Brave passed the Welsh Fire to take third place in the standings. Unbeaten New Zealand starter Devon Conway contributed a composed 54 off 40 balls for the winners.
The used, pace-off pitch was ideal for Mills’ deceiving left arm. He took three wickets in 20 balls, returning three for 27, giving him the most in the competition with 15 wickets.
Brave, who prevailed with five balls remaining, is still on track to win the Hundred again in 2021, the event’s first year. On Saturday night, they will take on Manchester, who finished second. 24 hours later, the winners compete against the Oval Invincibles in the Lord’s final.
Before the first ball was bowled, Manchester was all but guaranteed second place. In order to eliminate them, Brave had to chase their objective for 50 balls.
Jos Buttler, the limited-overs captain of England, top-scored for the Originals, who amassed 130 for 8 and were never able to escape after being added, scoring 45 off 42.
Their most aggressive batsman was Phil Salt, who scored two fours and a magnificent straight six in 17 balls. Buttler’s lack of fluidity best exemplified the sluggish conditions.
Even though there was a lot of talk about the speedoff, Buttler had to dodge a fantastic early bouncer from left-arm seamer George Garton.
Buttler later reverse-swept a few of his five boundaries but failed to hit a six before being bowled by Rehan Ahmed with leg-spin and being caught at long-on.
It was clear that the Originals would need to bowl brilliantly to win when they were 110 for 5 with 16 balls remaining.
Salt had been removed by Mills after being caught at deep midwicket.
In contrast to Mitch Santner and Colin Ackermann, fellow spinners, Ahmed concluded with 2 for 26 from his 20 balls. The trio’s total stats were 3 for 53 off 50 balls after the latter made one strike.
With the new ball, Mills dismissed Salt, who was caught at deep midwicket. At the end of the inning, Mills returned to bowl Jamie Overton off an inside edge and catch Tom Hartley.
Manchester’s innings seemed decisive despite just scoring eight runs and losing three wickets in the final ten balls.
Finn Allen scored two fours and an uppercut six before being caught at short fine-leg against a Josh Tongue short ball during the Brave Chase’s dramatic opening round of five balls.
Conway then started acting aggressively as everyone started looking for the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern par score due to some sweeping rain. However, Brave was far ahead and had 25 balls at 51 for 1. At 52 for 1 after 26 minutes, there was a minor rain delay, but play soon resumed, and Brave calmly qualified.
Conway and James Vince, who shared a score of 67 with skipper Vince, struck sixes over long-on off Hartley on each side of the rain delay. His exit, caused by an Ashton Turner off-spin catch at long-on, ignited a brief collapse that saw the score drop from 81 for 1 after 53 balls to 91 for 4 after 64.
Leus de Plooy, a teammate from Derbyshire, was caught by Pakistani pacer Zaman Khan’s slinging motion, and Joe Weatherley was bowled out. With 2 for 22, Khan impressively increased the pressure, bringing the game down to the last set of five balls. However, Conway calmed fears by scoring his first fifty of the season off of 38 balls.
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