Northern Superchargers and Birmingham Phoenix locked horns at Edgbaston in the 19th game of The Hundred Men’s 2022 competition. The home team (Phoenix) won the toss and elected to bowl first. While bowling, the team had mixed results. Adam Lyth scored 56 off 26 balls including three fours and six sixes. On the other hand, Adam Hose (53 off 35 balls) and David Wiese (34 off 14) helped the visitors reach 169/6.
Other batters such as skipper Faf du Plessis (9), Harry Brook (3), David Willey (1), and John Simpson (3) failed to cross the double-digit mark. Talking about Birmingham’s bowling, Moeen Ali and Kane Richardson took two wickets each. On the other hand, Imran Tahir and Ton Helm took one each. Ali was the most economical bowler as he gave away only 13 runs in 15 balls.
Tahir also put brakes on the opposition’s scoring as he gave away 24 runs in his 20-ball spell. On the other hand, the likes of Richardson and Helm proved costly.
Phoenix failed to chase down the target
In reply, the Moeen Ali-led side failed to chase down the target. They kept losing regular wickets which is why they were never in the game. Seven batters failed to cross the double-digit mark. The first-ever centurion in the history of the tournament, Will Smeed (15) failed to put up a substantial score. Miles Hammond (31) did fine but wasn’t looking dangerous for the opposition.
Liam Livingstone and skipper Ali failed to live up to their expectations. Talking about the Purple brigade, Wiese, who scored 34 off 14 with the ball, took three wickets for 15 runs in his full quota of bowling. David Willey took two while the likes of Craig Miles, Ben Raine, Dwayne Bravo, and Adil Rashid took one each. Raine was the most expensive bowler as he gave away 44 runs.
However, that didn’t impact the result of the game for the team as they won by 32 runs. With this win, the Faf du Plessis-led side have kept their playoffs hopes alive.
Phoenix just not good enough there. Poor batting. Not sure why they changed the batting lineup to put Livingstone earlier, but it didn't work. And Ali moving down to accommodate didn't either. #TheHundred
