The Hundred: Jos Buttler and Andre Russell led Manchester Originals to victory over Southern Brave
Jos Buttler and Andre Russell led Manchester Originals to victory over Southern Brave: Buttler knocked 68 off 42 deliveries to spark a huge innings for the Originals. His hit included five sixes with fellow opener Phil Salt scoring 38 runs.
After Wayne Madsen was out for just nine runs, Russell smacked 11 boundaries and a total of 64 runs off just 23 deliveries to set a huge target of 189 for the Brave.
The Brave was bowled out for 120 runs as Paul Walter claimed a hat-trick of wickets. Tristan Stubbs and Matt Parkinson took 2 wickets each.
Brave has been victorious in only one of their opening five matches after a disappointing home defeat. This loss ends their chances of defending their title.
Brave openers Quinton De Kock and James Vince shared a rapid 36 in 17 deliveries. Sean Abbott knocked out Vince with a stunning one-handed return catch.
Marcus Stoinis failed to last long in his final outing for the Brave. He was swept straight to square-leg off Tom Hartley.
Tristan Stubbs dismissed Alex Davies and claimed the key wicket of De Kock three balls later to effectively end the Brave’s chances.
Russell was in his stellar form displaying his all-round performance. He dismissed the out-of-form Tim David.
Matt Parkinson ended the game by knocking out Michael Hogan as the Brave were bowled out with only 16 balls to spare.
The Originals were with only one victory from their opening four matches. The Originals started slowly against the pace of Garton and Michael Hogan.
But the match was filled with life in Dan Moriarty’s first set on his Brave debut. Phil Salt knocked the Surrey spinner for two fours, either side of offering a tough and difficult chance to Fuller.
Buttler was not outdone. He audaciously scooped 41-year-old Hogan for four. The visitors managed to reach an impressive 46 for no wicket at the end of the 25-ball Powerplay.
Just as in the women’s game in the recent past, spin proved harder to attack. The first set of Jake Lintott went for just two.
Buttler quickly became aggressive and hoisted Stoinis and Lintott for massive maximums.
The leading run-scorer in this 2022 IPL reached a 32-ball half-century. This was done shortly after Wayne Madsen had been brilliantly run out by Stoinis’ pinpoint throw.
Russell soon came in to join in the carnage. The all-rounder went on to deposit Fuller for six over mid-wicket. He and Buttler traded maximums off the unfortunate Garton in a barnstorming partnership of 51 off 25 balls.
Buttler’s dismissal by Hogan failed to stem the flow of runs. The depleted Brave was attacked badly and missed the services of England stars Jofra Archer, Tymal Mills, Chris Jordan, and Craig Overton.
Russell found his way to go into overdrive. The Originals managed to obliterate the previous best team score in the Men’s Hundred at the Ageas Bowl. They successfully recorded the fourth-highest men’s score in the entire competition.
Man of the Match: Andre Russell (64 from off 23 deliveries, including 5 sixes)
Russell said: “I have been feeling confident with the bat but the runs were not coming and I [kept] believing. Today the coach said to me, ‘Today is your day’, and I said, ‘Well, let us hope for the best’. And today [I] actually came out and I did what I did best. So, happy for another win, I hope that we can keep the momentum going from now.”
“My strength was actually coming on and hoping to take on the spinners but when I [saw] how big the ball was spinning, [how they were] getting the ball to go away from me as well – I said to the skipper, ‘Let us just tough it out’. If we can get a few boundaries [great], but my goal was actually to stay here to the end.”
“How I was maxing it out, you know, thinking about the last 20 and try to capitalize on the seam bowling and, and we actually [got] way above par, I was actually thinking about 161-165 based on how the wicket was playing but with the power and hitting constantly boundaries, we [got] to 180 which put a lot of pressure on them.”