MEN’S HUNDRED, 2025
Sam Curran and Jordan Cox added a 101-run stand for the third wicket in chase © Getty
Jordan Cox’s sizzling form with the bat continued as he struck his second successive half-century to lead Oval Invincibles to another win – their fourth this season in five games. There were significant contributions from Sam Curran and Rashid Khan as well that gave Invincibles a thumping win over Southern Brave on Monday (August 18).
Jason Behrendorff caused the early damage to Brave from which they never recovered after being sent into bat. The Australian quick bagged the big wickets of James Vince and Leus du Plooy and then Tom Curran sent Laurie Evans packing on a surface that wasn’t really conducive to strokeplay. Things went from bad to worse in a blink of an eye as Brave were then stunned by Rashid Khan who ended up picking three wickets in the space of five deliveries.
Under the pump in the last two games, Rashid straged an excellent comeback. He first dismissed Jason Roy and Michael Bracewell off successive deliveries before trapping James Coles leg-before-wicket to reduce the opposition to 44/6. The fact that they still recovered to post 133 was quite commendable. A 37-run stand for the seventh wicket, followed by a 39-run stand for the 8th wicket did the trick as Hilton Cartwright and Jordan Thompson came up with some valuable runs down the order before Curran picked up two wickets to bowl them out before they could bat out their quota of 100 deliveries.
Craig Overton then did his best to put up a fight with the ball as he got rid of the openers – Will Jacks and Tawanda Muyeye – very early in the run chase. But the in-form Cox and Curran ensured there were no further hiccups. Having already scored 44 and 86* in his last two games, Cox was on the charge once again as he went 4,6,4 against Tymal Mills to get going. At the other end, Curran took on Thompson for successive boundaries to get into the groove as well.
From thereon, there was no stopping the duo. Curran slogswept Bracewell for a big six and Cox took on Mills once again to race away with the game. In the process, Cox first brought up his fifty before Mills finally got his man. The game was done and dusted by then as Sam Billings walked out and hit three boundaries before Curran laid the finishing touches that also helped him bring up his own fifty. The resounding win, completed with 11 balls to spare, has Invincibles comfortably leading the table.
Brief scores: Southern Brave 133 in 98 balls (Hilton Cartwright 42; Rashid Khan 3/20, Sam Curran 3/21) lost to Oval Invincibles 134/3 in 89 balls (Jordan Cox 56, Sam Curran 50*; Craig Overton 2/21) by 7 wickets
© Cricbuzz
