Tag: The Hundred 2023

Oval Invincibles won the men’s edition of The Hundred for the first time as they recovered from a rocky start to beat Manchester Originals by 14 runs in Sunday’s final at Lord’s.

Reduced to 34-5 in their innings, the Invincibles hit back thanks to dashing displays from Tom Curran and Jimmy Neesham.

Curran and New Zealand all-rounder Neesham shared an unbeaten partnership of 127, which ranks as the highest for any wicket in the history of The Hundred.

Curran was the catalyst with five sixes in his 67 not out from 34 balls, while Neesham added an unbeaten 57 from 33 balls as the Invincibles reached 161-5 from their 100 balls.

After chasing 197 to beat Southern Brave in The Hundred ‘eliminator’ on Saturday, the Originals would have fancied their chances of overhauling the Oval total.

But Manchester captain Jos Buttler, who had starred with a brilliant innings against the Brave, was bowled by Danny Briggs for just 11 to give the Invincibles a huge boost.

Max Holden’s brisk 37 kept the Originals in the hunt as they chased 32 from the final 10 balls.

But Curran conceded only nine from the first five and his brother Sam Curran closed out the game to leave the Originals on 147-6.

“Jimmy was unbelievable. It was a crucial partnership for us and we really fed off each other out there,” Tom Curran said.

Saluting his all-rounder brother, Sam Curran said: “I think at 34-5 it all comes down to Tom and Jimmy and the way they played in a pressure situation.

“I am pleased for Tom, because he’s had a hard season with injury and has been batting brilliantly. I am so happy. I think we are born to play and win trophies.”

In the women’s final of The Hundred, Danni Wyatt starred as Southern Brave’s 34-run win over Northern Superchargers gave captain Anya Shrubsole a memorable send-off.

Wyatt’s brilliant 59 from 38 balls took her past fellow England star Tammy Beaumont as the top scorer in this year’s women’s event with 295 runs in total.

Freya Kemp added 31 as the Brave piled up 139-6 despite figures of 3-21 for England seamer Kate Cross.

Jemimah Rodrigues made 24 in the run chase, but Kalea Moore took 3-15 and Lauren Bell 3-21 as Superchargers were bowled out for 105.

Southern Brave, beaten in the first two Hundred finals, finally got their hands on the trophy, making it the perfect retirement party for Shrubsole.

“It’s gone alright, hasn’t it?” said Shrubsole.

READ: ‘BCCI President, Vice President are coming to Pakistan,’ says Zaka Ashraf

Pakistan all-rounder Shadab Khan has revealed his batting plan against fellow Pakistani pacers Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf, in the upcoming The Hundred clash on Thursday.

Shadab Khan, currently playing for Birmingham Phoenix, shared his strategy for facing Welsh Fire’s Shaheen and Haris on the field. He simply aims to “Whack them for sixes.”

Shadab is playing in The Hundred for the first time, after missing out on earlier editions due to national commitments.

He made his debut in the rain-effected game against Northern Supercharges. Shadab got out for a duck before the match was abandoned due to rain.

“When you play against your friends and perform against each other, you’re teasing each other about it all year,” Shadab said.

He further added: “They’re my close mates, so I want to beat them – because they beat me in the PSL.”

Shaheen Afridi is currently the joint-second leading wicket-taker in the Hundred with five wickets from three games, while Haris Rauf has managed to pick up three wickets so far.

Pakistan’s pace duo will be replaced by New Zealand bowlers Lockie Ferguson and Matt Henry in the Welsh Fire’s side for the latter part of the Hundred, as they are set to leave for national duty.

Shadab Khan, along with Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf will depart from the UK to join Pakistan’s ODI squad for their series against Afghanistan later this month in Sri Lanka.

“Slowly, we are building up our workload,” Afridi says. “It won’t be easy in Sri Lanka – different weather as well – but hopefully in the Asia Cup and World Cup we will do very well.”

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LONDON: All-rounder Iftikhar Ahmed and five other players from Pakistan have signed up for the upcoming draft of ‘The Hundred’ – England’s first of its sort league. 

Following an update regarding the overseas players’ list for this year’s The Hundred, the number of Pakistan players, who registered themselves for the draft, rose from 57 to 63 after Iftikhar, Ahmed Shehzad, Tayyab Tahir, Mir Hamza and Muhammad Ilyas were added to the list.

Earlier, a number of top-performing T20I players from Pakistan including skipper Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Fakhar Zaman, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Diana Baig registered for the draft, which will take place on March 23.

Among the other standout names hoping to earn a slot in this year’s season include Richa Ghosh, Tamim Iqbal, Sneh Rana and Ben Foakes.

However, a total of seven overseas including Mitchell Starc, Megan Schutt, Anrich Nortje, Aiden Markram and Tayla Vlaeminck are no longer available for selection in The Hundred Draft.

According to the ‘The Hundred’ media release, a total of 881 players from 28 countries will be up for grabs ahead of the third year of the competition. The women’s competition is to stage a draft for the first time.

Moreover, 113 players were retained by their respective franchises across the men’s and women’s tournaments, which means The Hundred Draft and the open market process in the women’s competition will fill up a further 135 spots.

The tournament will kick off at Trent Bridge on August 1 with a double-header between Trent Rockets and Southern Brave – the first of 68 games across the third year of The Hundred.

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