THE HUNDRED MENS COMPETITION 2025
Buttler took just 37 balls for his 70. © Getty
Jos Buttler (70 off 37) and Rachin Ravindra (47* off 23) combined to deny Northern Superchargers a chance to usurp Oval Invincibles to the top of the table and gain direct entry into the final. The last game slip-up means the Superchargers will play in the Eliminator clash of this year’s Men’s Hundred. The Manchester Originals in the process, signed off from an underwhelming season with a seven-wicket win.
The Superchargers, who needed a massive win against Originals to try and upstage Invincibles, suffered a poor start as they fell to 13/2 inside the PowerPlay with James Anderson dismissing Dawid Malan and Dan Lawrence. Harry Brook and Zak Crawley offered slow recovery, before they fell in the space of three deliveries to leave the batting side down to 54/4. Michael Pepper became the first of medium-pacer Thomas Aspinwall’s three wickets on the evening, leaving the Superchargers on 73/5 in 67 deliveries.
From this point on, the batting side nearly doubled their total through David Miller and Samit Patel. The duo hit six sixes between them, adding 59 off 27 deliveries. Patel was particularly brutal, getting his 42 off just 19 deliveries. Once Josh Tongue halted the flying partnership, Aspinwall wrapped up the innings with two wickets in two deliveries.
The Superchargers had a good total but stood no chance of defending it as they went up against a marauding Buttler. Tom Lawes and Jacob Duffy ensured the Originals too lost a couple of early wickets, but couldn’t quite consolidate on that. Buttler and Rachin Ravindra put on a 99-run partnership to make short work of the total in front of them. From the moment they got together, fours and sixes came easily in chase.
They picked up the pieces from 31/2 off 31 deliveries, and pushed the side to 69/2 at the halfway stage. They continued to keep pace with the equation until a five-ball set from Samit allowed them to dwarf it. Buttler laid into his compatriot, smashing a straight six, a boundary through backward point and one through cover. 39 off 35 became 29 off 30 as Ravindra hit Adil Rashid for a six.
Lawes was back in search of another breakthrough and nearly had one, as a thick inside edge off Buttler’s bat escaped the stumps and ran away for a four. Buttler responded to that by hitting the biggest six of the night over long on. He smashed one over Rashid’s head too, before departing in that set for a 37-ball 70 that was laced with seven fours and five sixes. In the following set, Ravindra completed the chase with two successive fours, ending unbeaten on 47 off just 23 – his essay including five fours and two sixes.
Brief Scores: Northern Superchargers 139/8 in 100 balls (Samit Patel 42, David Miller 30; Thomas Aspinwall 3-17, James Anderson 2-30) lost to Manchester Originals 140/3 in 84 balls (Jos Buttler 70, Rachin Ravindra 47*; Jacob Duffy 1-16) by 7 wickets
© Cricbuzz
