Sam Billings' Oval Invincibles have retained their Hundred title after beating the Southern Brave in the final of the competition at Lord's on Sunday. A sensational spell of reverse swing from pacer Saqib Mahmood helped Invincibles defend 147 as they restricted the Brave to 130/7 in the 100-ball competition.
Invincibles were unarguably the best team of this season and they have now matched the achievement of their women counterparts. The women's team of Oval Invincibles had won the back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022 and the men's team has now carried forward this brilliance with their own titles in 2023 and 2024.
Also, skipper Sam Billings has become the first captain in the history of the tournament to lift two titles. He had also led the Invincibles to the crown in 2023.
Talking about the match, Brave won the toss and asked the defending champions to bat first. Will Jacks gave the early impetus with his 22-ball 37 before contributions came from Sam Curran (25 from 20), Jordan Cox (25 from 17) and Tom Curran (24 from 11) to take the Invincibles to 147 and ask the Brave to pull off the highest chase at Lord's in the competition.
Brave openers Alex Davies and captain James Vince were marching towards the target with a 58-run stand but Adam Zampa came and took apart the former with a googly in his second set of five.
After an impressive outing with the bat, Jacks removed the highest-run scorer of the tournament and the skipper Vince for 24 before leg spinner Nathan Sowter struck to remove James Coles.
However, Brave had things in control with 53 needed from the final 30 balls and having seven wickets in hand. But Mahmood came and struck three wickets in his seven balls to bring the defenders into the front seat. He removed Leus du Plooy with a delivery that seamed late, before pinning Kieron Pollard for a duck and then getting Laurie Evans at covers.
Zampa struck again, cleaning up Chris Jordan and despite Craig Overton's 11-ball 22, Brave were 17 short and Invincibles had their hands on the title, again.
