Report
Invincibles guaranteed knockout place if they beat Southern Brave on Monday night
Oval Invincibles 147 for 8 (Evans 67*, Jacks 44) beat London Spirit 146 for 7 (Morgan 41, Denly 35, Shamsi 3-25) by two wickets
Laurie Evans rescued a tough chase with 67 not out off 37 balls to put Oval Invincibles second in the table heading into the final round of group games, ensuring they will qualify for the Hundred’s knockout stages if they beat Southern Brave on Monday night.
Invincibles slipped to 14 for 3 in pursuit of 147 on a slowish pitch, and were wobbling at 52 for 4 when Evans came in at No. 6 to join Will Jacks. With three genuine tailenders from No. 9-11, there was no margin for error, but he launched a stunning counterattack to relieve the scoring pressure.
Jacks’ dismissal, pulling Ravi Bopara straight to long-on, precipitated another stumble. Evans continued to score freely but Alex Blake and Tom Curran were both bowled, and Saqib Mahmood was run out looking for two with six needed off six balls. When Blake Cullen missed his yorker, Evans smoked him for six over long-on, keeping Oval’s perfect home record intact and lifting 19,000 home fans off their seats.
Spirit, the Hundred’s runaway horse after losing their first four completed games, had scrambled up to a par score thanks to Eoin Morgan‘s 41 – which included five sixes – and a late cameo from Roelof van der Merwe, with Tabraiz Shamsi and Sunil Narine again coming to the fore in the middle phase, as they have throughout Invincibles’ unbeaten home run.
While Invincibles are guaranteed a knockout spot if they win their final game, they can still qualify with a defeat if other results go their way.
More to follow…
Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98
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