Pooran stars as Superchargers beat Originals
Nicholas Pooran blasts an unbeaten 66 as Northern Superchargers beat Manchester Originals in the men’s Hundred at Old Trafford.
Nicholas Pooran blasted an unbeaten 66 as Northern Superchargers beat Manchester Originals in a high-scoring men’s Hundred thriller at Old Trafford.
Chasing 153 to win, Superchargers swiftly lost England captain Ben Stokes to a potentially serious hamstring injury and started slowly before Pooran and skipper Harry Brook (43) powered their side into contention.
Brook was caught by Jamie Overton off the bowling of Usama Mir, but Pooran pressed on, smashing three sixes from Fazalhaq Farooqi’s penultimate set before Adam Hose hit a maximum of his own to secure victory.
Having been put in to bat, the Originals got off to a flying start with Phil Salt hitting a 17-ball half century as the home side reached 93-2 after 40 balls.
But their charge stalled dramatically as the Superchargers slow bowlers came into the game.
From successive deliveries, Paul Walter was run out and Sikandar Raza was dismissed for a first-ball duck. Adil Rashid then removed Salt who sliced to Mitchell Santner at point for 61.
Overton helped the Originals regain some momentum towards the end of the innings, hitting three sixes as they finished on 152-7.
The start of the reply contrasted sharply with how the Originals began, as Matthew Short skied Farooqi to Walter for one, while Stokes had to retire after hurting a hamstring while running a single.
It took the Superchargers 57 balls to reach 50, but they were dug out of trouble by an eager Pooran who cracked two fours and eight sixes in his 33-ball innings.
But the winning moment was not to be his, with Hose heaving a delivery from Scott Currie over the long-off boundary to wrap up victory with three balls to spare.
This video can not be played
To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
-
-
9 hours ago
-
-
-
13 hours ago
-
What else do you need to know?
-
The win sees Superchargers leapfrog Birmingham Phoenix into the final knockout place. They play their final match of the group stage against London Spirit on Tuesday. Originals had already been eliminated from the tournament, and wrap up their campaign against Phoenix on Thursday.
-
The Originals hit 73 from the 25-ball powerplay, the highest score in the history of the competition. In contrast, Superchargers were 23-2 at the end of theirs, and had been 5-2 after 15 deliveries.
-
Salt hit five fours and four sixes in his 28-ball 61, with all of his boundaries coming prior to him passing 50.
-
Salt’s last four moved Originals to 84-1 from 30 balls. They then failed to hit a boundary until Tom Aspinwall reached the ropes from the 83rd delivery of the innings. Both Rashid and Usama bowled maiden sets.
‘I’m in the game here’ – what they said
Superchargers batter Nicholas Pooran: “It’s definitely one of my better innings. Knowing the situation of the game, walking in to bat with 100 runs to get. This is a new format, it creeps up on you really fast. I’m really happy that I could contribute and be there until the end.”
On clearing Old Trafford’s temporary stand: “I was surprised the ball went up so high. The moment I saw it went there I thought ‘OK, I’m in the game here’.”
On his side’s form: “We have been inconsistent in this tournament and I just feel like peaking at the right time is important and hopefully this is that start of something special for us.”
What is happening on Monday?
It is a Midlands derby on Monday as Birmingham Phoenix host Trent Rockets at Edgbaston. The women’s match starts at 15:00 BST with the men’s game following at 18:30.
You can follow ball-by-ball commentary on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport website and app.
Related Topics
-
-
5 hours ago
-
