Invincibles beat Fire in low-scoring contest

The Hundred men's competition, Sophia Gardens

Oval Invincibles 113-9 (100 balls): Ferreira 30 (23); Ball 3-24

Welsh Fire 103-8 (100 balls): Payne 28 (15); Zampa 3-24

Oval Invincibles won by 10 runs

Scorecard. Table

Oval Invincibles successfully defended a low total of 113 as they beat Welsh Fire by 10 runs in The Hundred men's competition at Sophia Gardens.

Having been put into bat, Invincibles slipped to 43-4, with Dawid Malan and Sam Billings falling for a duck and three respectively, and fellow England international Will Jacks holing out in the deep after a quick-fire 25.

Sam Curran (20) and Donovan Ferreira (30) then put on 46 for the fifth wicket, until Curran dropped a shot into the hands of Tom Kohler-Cadmore at long-on.

The wicket prompted an end of innings collapse as Invincibles lost 5-16 in 18 balls, then scored just five runs from David Payne's final set.

Jonny Bairstow and Joe Clarke were both bowled cheaply in the reply, and opener Tom Kohler-Cadmore scored a slow 22 from 33 as Fire struggled to get going.

Leg-spinners Adam Zampa (3-24) and Nathan Sowter (2-12) then ripped through the Fire middle order, with the home side also losing 5-16 from the halfway mark to leave them needing 52 runs from the final 21 balls of the innings.

Payne then smashed his side back into content, striking 28 runs from 15 deliveries in a 40-run partnership with Mason Crane.

But needing two sixes from the final balls of the innings, Payne heaved the ball into the hands of Malan at cover to hand Invincibles a deserved victory.

Invincibles spinner Adam Zampa: "We needed early wickets to get momentum into the early overs. We attacked up front. It can be difficult to navigate 40 balls of leg-spin, me bowling towards the end with the run-rate going up is where I can do my work."

Invincibles captain Sam Billings: "It was a great win. They're the wins that really galvanise the unit, you take a lot of confidence from that.

"We struggled against seam to start off with. We front-loaded seam, even if we didn't get those early wickets we knew we had Nathan Sowter and Adam Zampa. It's not an easy pitch to get a start on.

"Leg-spin in this format of the game is so good. All the plaudits go to Zampa, but Sowter has been a quality performer for a number of years."

It's back to Old Trafford for another double-header on Monday, with Manchester Originals facing Trent Rockets (women's at 15:00 BST and men's at 18:35 BST).

Originals' men lost their opening game to Welsh Fire, but the Rockets thrashed Northern Superchargers in their first fixture.

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