One of the most challenging things to accomplish is retaining a title. While winning the first is hard enough, once you give people a team to beat, they will put in that little bit extra to knock you off your perch.
Oval Invicibles men faced that task at Lord’s against a strong Southern Brave, with a battery of rapid bowlers. Their women’s team already knew the feeling of winning back-to-back titles and now it was the turn of Sam Billings’s team to try and repeat that feat. They managed it by a comfortable 17 runs, but Southern Brave gave them a good contest.
It was to be Saqib Mahmood who stepped up for the invincibles, figures of three for 17 breaking any real chance that Southern Brave would steal their crown.
Billings had lost the toss and Southern Brave asked the Invincibles to bat first; it felt like the best option for the pretenders to the throne, who squeezed through to the final with a super-five win against Birmingham Phoenix in the previous day’s eliminator.
Will Jacks did much of the heavy lifting in the opening partnership of 44 with Dawid Malan, before the latter was caught at deep mid-wicket by Laurie Evans for seven, to give the ever-impressive Jofra Archer the first wicket of the day.
Jacks cleared the fence three times in his 22-ball innings of 37 before missing a straight full toss from Tymal Mills. Sam Curran and Jordan Cox, both with 25 runs, helped to maintain their decent start before Brave started to peg them back as Akeal Hosein, who had suffered earlier in the innings at the hands of Jacks, struck with the wickets of Sam Curren and Billings with consecutive balls. It was a good recovery by Hosein, the left-arm spinner who also added the wicket of the dangerous Donovan Ferreira for five.
The Invincibles have the luxury of Tom Curran batting at seven and Tom Lammonby at eight and their late-order hitting proved crucial as they looked for a total around the 150 mark. Tom Curran took eleven balls to smash 24 runs that included two sixes and it took a very good diving catch from James Coles, off the bowling of Archer, to end his cameo, which was in danger of taking the Invincibles total closer to 160. Lammonby was to fall five balls after Curran to a Mills slower ball and his third wicket of the night.
The Invincibles finished on 147 for nine. It could have been a more significant total, but it was one that they would have been happy with at the start of play.
Southern Brave started their reply with an opening stand of 58 from 43 balls, Alex Davies the more aggressive of the two batters. At the same time, James Vince accumulated runs, putting them on the front foot as Billings juggled his bowlers looking for the breakthrough.
The leg-spin of Adam Zampa eventually got the Brave their first wicket as he bowled Davies for 35 and five balls later Jacks bowled Vince for 24. It looked like a game that could swing either way.
When Coles was caught for four by Jacks at deep midwicket off Nathan Sowter, Brave would need one of their middle-order to step up and be counted. Leus du Plooy, who plays his county cricket at Lord’s, threatened with 20. Evans also gave it his best shot with 16 from 10 balls before Mahmood had him caught for 16.
The wicket of du Plooy brought Kieron Pollard to the middle, but he struggled to get his bat to the ball as Mahmood steamed in up the hill and Pollard was dismissed lbw for a four-ball duck. Evans and Chris Jordan had both been dismissed in the space of six balls and the Brave were sinking. On occasion, Archer and Craig Overton are capable of hitting big, but they ran out of balls and still needed 24 runs from the final five balls.
Sam Curran closed the game out, conceding just six runs from the final set, and his side celebrated a job well done.
