Hundred 2024: James Vince, Daniel Hughes Win At A Canter For Southern Brave After Craig Overton Three-For Saps London Spirit

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Despite Craig Overton‘s three-wicket haul, Liam Dawson’s quickfire 45 off 19 balls helped London reach 138/9 in 100 deliveries whereas a 95-run stand between Daniel Hughes and James Vince secured the victory for the Braves. London Spirit captain Dan Lawrence won the toss and chose to bat. The decision seemed questionable early on when Adam Rossington fell to James Coles in just the fifth ball of the innings.

The situation worsened with Craig Overton dismissing Daniel Bell-Drummond on the 17th ball, leaving London Spirit struggling at 23/2 by the end of the powerplay. The pressure mounted as Michael-Kyle Pepper was sent back on the 26th delivery. Craig Overton continued his excellent form taking the crucial wicket of Ravi Bopara on the 44th ball, leaving London Spirit in a precarious position at 44/4.

Pitch and Toss

The pitch in Southampton is expected to be a decent one for the batters. The average score of 160 means that there will be proper balance between the bat and the ball. Northern Superchargers hold the record for the highest score in the Hundred Men with a score of 201 for three

Dan Lawrence the London Spirit skipper won the toss and opted to bat with Andre Russell, Shimron Hetmyer some notable additions to the Playing XI.

James Vince the Southern Brave skipper bowling first while missing on some international stars had Jofra Archer to their services in the Playing XI.

London Spirit reached 138 for 9 despite Craig Overton’s early burst.

‌The Rose Bowl in Southampton was buzzing with anticipation as London Spirit faced off against Southern Brave. London Spirit captain Dan Lawrence won the toss and chose to bat. The decision seemed questionable early on when Adam Rossington fell to James Coles in just the fifth ball of the innings. The situation worsened with Craig Overton dismissing Daniel Bell-Drummond on the 17th ball, leaving London Spirit struggling at 23/2 by the end of the powerplay.

The pressure mounted as Michael-Kyle Pepper was sent back on the 26th delivery. Craig Overton continued his excellent form taking the crucial wicket of Ravi Bopara on the 44th ball, leaving London Spirit in a precarious position at 44/4. Hopes were pinned on Shimron Hetmyer, but he couldn’t change the course of the game and failed to Tymal Mills on the 48th ball. Despite the challenging situation, Andre Russell and Dan Lawrence managed to put together a 28-run partnership, pushing the score to 66/5 by the 60th delivery.

Russell, striking at 189, displayed his power with a six and a four, but his innings ended at 13 runs off seven balls when Jofra Archer scalped him on the 65th ball. Lawrence continued to fight, scoring a determined 38 off 30 deliveries before being dismissed by Chris Jordan on the 78th ball.

As London Spirit reached 100 runs in the 17th set, wickets continued to fall with Nathan Ellis being dismissed on the 83rd delivery. However, Liam Dawson provided a much-needed boost with a quickfire 45 off 19 deliveries, lifting the team’s total to a competitive 138/9 by the end of their 100 balls.

Invited to field first, Brave’s attack dominated the opening stages, with left-arm spinner James Coles inducing a miscued lofted drive from Adam Rossington for the first wicket.

Craig Overton took the catch and Overton then took centre stage, picking up the next three wickets – all to outfield catches – to rip through the Spirit’s middle order.

England superstar Jofra Archer touched 90mph in his first appearance in The Hundred – a spell that went for just nine runs – while Tymal Mills and Chris Jordan provided ferocious back-up. When the Guyanese overseas star Shimron Hetmyer skewed Mills to backward point, the Spirit were tottering on 49 for 5 from 48 balls.

Thereafter Andre Russell joined Spirit skipper Dan Lawrence, signaling his intentions by clubbing his first delivery to the fence. After launching a short ball from Archer for the first six of the match, Russell then handed Archer his first wicket, Russell’s upper cut picking out Craig Overton at deep third.

Jordan burst through to trap Lawrence for an enterprising 38 (30), leaving Liam Dawson to offer spirited lone resistance at the death. Dominating the latter stages, Dawson took 14 runs from the final three deliveries, his unbeaten 45 (19) giving the Spirit impetus going into the run-chase.

Vince, Hughes win at a canter for Southern Braves

In response, the Braves got off to a flying start with openers James Vince and Daniel Hughes racing to 61/0 by the end of the seventh set. The London bowlers were eager for a breakthrough as the Braves’ openers pushed the score to 67/0 after 40 deliveries. The first wicket fell when Bopara scalped Hughes on the 58th ball, who departed scoring 45 off 30 balls.

With 22 runs needed off 28 deliveries, the Braves lost James Vince who had made an impressive 56 off 35 balls. However, Davies was dismissed by Nathan Ellis on the 80th delivery. But the Braves were inching closer to victory with just 11 required off 20 deliveries. Ultimately, Laurie Evans and Leus du Plooy wrapped up the match, leading the Braves to a seven-wicket victory with 11 balls to spare.

Any optimism was short-lived. Vince stroked four boundaries in his first five balls to set Brave on their way and in partnership with the left-hander Daniel Hughes, the pair put on 95 for the first wicket. Hughes nicked Ravi Bopara to Rossington behind the stumps for 45 (31) but Vince went to his fifth half-century in the competition’s history and despite Vince lofting a catch to long-off with the score on 117, the final 22 runs were negotiated with little undue fuss. Needing 139 to win, the Brave eased home with 11 balls to spare.

Presentations and Road Ahead

Meerkat Match Hero Craig Overton said: “It was a pretty good surface, it did a little bit with the new ball, and we wanted to make it as hard as possible, bowling with no width, and it came off today.

“We’ve got some decent pace in our boys, so I knew their batters would be coming at me a bit more, so I knew I had to be on it and hit my lengths. Sometimes it might play in my favour and today it obviously did.

“It’s massive to start well in this competition, there’s only seven games in the group stage so you need to start well.

“Vincey is a phenomenal player and he’s done it for years in the Vitality Blast, he’s carried that form into The Hundred and it’s nice to see him back in form today.”

A comfortable victory for Southern Brave as they chase down the target in 89 balls. Earlier in the day, London Spirit won the toss and elected to bat first, however, Craig Overton ran through the top-order by reducing them to 23/3 in no time. Dan Lawrence tried to anchor the innings while Liam Dawson played a pivotal knock to give London Spirit some respectability.

In reply, Vince and Hughes came out with all guns blazing and attacked most of the London bowlers. The bowling team had no answers to the onslaught by the openers as they had an excellent partnership. Hughes missed out on his fifty, but skipper Vince notched up brisk fifty and although he was dismissed by Lawrence towards the end, Brave got over the line without any difficulty. A clinical performance indeed.

Also Read: IND vs ENG: “Side Arm Specialists In India Need To Work Hard To Prepare Batters For Tough Times”- Abhishek Jain Gives His Invaluable Insights

 


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