Southern Brave became the first men’s champions of The Hundred with a professional 32-run win over the favourites Birmingham Phoenix. Their effort with the bat to set 168 for five was matched by their endeavor in the field to keep the Phoenix down to just 136 for five.
Like the women’s final earlier, which the Brave lost to Oval Invincibles, it was hardly close. And there was a sense of anti-climax to how both finals panned out, even if the threat of a full washout never materialised. However, there were moments of palpable jeopardy: first when the Brave effort was stemmed to 35 for two after 32 balls, then when the Phoenix launched an assault just before the midway stage courtesy of Hundred MVP, Liam Livingstone.
Every stage has a star and there was no one better to stand astride this one here than Livingstone. The one who had embodied its “every ball counts mantra”, provided the most viral clips with the most memorable hits. He provided another when he got off the mark with a 94m six. He celebrated with another.
There would be a third and fourth, taking his tournament tally to 23. The crowd were never louder than when he was on strike: the hum of 24,556 reverberating like rubber and mesh on a speaker just before the drop instigated by the thud off Livingstone’s bat. Only when the actual DJ did they actually calm down, knowing their was a break in play to catch their breaths before Livingstone faced up again.
Arguably the most remarkable of his strikes was no six at all, but a wrist-breaking slapshot to a 91mph yorker from Chris Jordan that raced to the Pavilion for four. One that spoke of the truth most bowlers had to come to terms with at some point over the last four weeks that he’s in control. And then, he wasn’t.
A strike that did not go for six landed safe. In the bedlam of a missed catch out at square leg, he and Moeen Ali decided to go for a second. Their 55 off 25 had brought the chase within sight, down into double figures with 99 to get off 55. But as they tried to make that 56 and 98 off the back of the mis-field, the guilty party still sprawled on the floor, Tim David, Australian born, Singapore representative and beneficiary of domestic absentees in the Twenty20 and Royal London Cup squads, and here on Hundred debut, swooped on the loose ball and heaved towards Livingstone’s end, nailing a direct hit from all of 40 yards.
Livingstone was done, not by much, but felled for the last time with 46 from 19 balls. Run out, of all ends. In terms of dismissals for the Brave, it was the equivalent of nabbing Al Capone for tax evasion.
With Livingstone gone, so, really, was the thrill, viral moments and, ultimately, the chase. Moeen’s groove was eventually ended by Jake Lintott, the left-arm wrist spinner (and school teacher) who had him caught by Craig Overton at long on. The significance of the catcher all the more important after he had dropped the same batter on 15 and making amends on 36.
Moeen as Phoenix captain had some of it his own way at the start, winning the toss on a re-toss after the coin had fallen into a crevice, much to the annoyance of his opposite man James Vince who was sure the coin was landing his way. Moeen opted to bowl first and was on the right end of a good start with Quinton de Kock and Vince dismissed in single figures for a run-a-ball or worse.
Yet even with de Kock (seven off seven) and Vince (four off eight), and Adam Milne’s break-neck speed frugality of two wickets for just eight runs across his 20 balls, a score of 168 for five was compiled.
The carnage occurred without the usual leading lights and around the unhittable Milne: more broadly after a tame start which gave way to 144 scored off the final 80. Ireland’s Paul Stirling did as he does, almost striking the white off the ball with 61 from 36 which featured six sixes into the stands that still remain home, albeit as Middlesex’s overseas player during this season’s T20 Blast.
And while Alex Davies’ 27 off 20 provided the glue between the top and lower order, his handover outright to Ross Whiteley after he was dismissed with nine balls to go was done with carnage on the mind. Whiteley duly provided it, swinging through the first four of the final five deliveries to strike a six down the ground and into the second-tier at square leg. Those strikes sandwiched a fortuitous inside edge for four, before a single that meant he was off strike for the final ball. A mercy of sorts for the bowler Dillon Pennington, a teammate of Whiteley’s at Worcestershire who had been offered no mates rates in an expensive final set.
For all that The Hundred promised to be, for the players within the county set-up who are far from international honours it was an opportunity that little bit closer to the big leagues where they would be able to show just how good they were. So it was fitting that Whiteley underlined his worth as a match-winning finisher and Lintott emerged more broadly as a short format whizz. Even Livingstone, an international and franchise must-have already, can ease his woes with the knowledge that on Saturday night, even in defeat, he put the full stop on the exclamation point that has been a month where he has shown he should be one of the first names on England’s T20 teamsheet.
