Will Smeed became the first player to record a century in the Hundred when he smashed an unbeaten 101 off 50 against Southern Brave at Edgbaston on August 10.
The eighth match of the tournament was all about the 20-year-old sensation Smeed and the 22-year-old Henry Brookes. Smeed blasted a scintillating hundred while Brookes claimed a five-for as they defeated the defending champions Southern Brave by 53 runs.
Smeed made his intentions clear straight away as he flicked George Garton for a boundary on the first ball of the innings. He lost Chris Benjamin (17 off 12) and Moeen Ali (17 off 12) but he kept going. Smeed laid it into Garton, in particular, hitting him for a couple of sixes in the left arm pacer’s third set.
Smeed and Liam Livingstone added 80 runs for the third wicket, of which the latter only scored 21 off 20 balls – which was also the next highest individual score of the innings. Highlights the astonishing knock that Smeed played. He hit eight fours and sent the ball into the stands on six occasions as he propelled Phoenix to a strong total of 176/4.
Southern Brave got off to a great start with captain James Vince hitting his opposite number Ali over the fence twice in the first set. But immediately after that, Vince (17 off 5) was cleaned up by Kane Richardson, while Marcus Stoinis was dismissed by Tom Helm.
Henry Brookes entered the attack and made an impact straight away with a brutal bouncer to Quinton de Kock to send the South African back. Tim David failed to do much as he flat batted Brookes to deep midwicket. Brookes then cleaned up Alex Davies (33 off 24) – the top scorer for Brave – with a dipping slow full toss. Brookes completed his five-wicket haul by pinning Garton LBW with a yorker.
Phoenix opened their account in this edition of the Hundred with this victory, having lost their opening fixture. Brave have one victory and a loss, with a negative net run-rate of -0.211.
Brief scores
Birmingham Phoenix 176/4 in 100 balls (Smeed 101*, Livingstone 21; Stoinis 1/12) Southern Brave 123 in 85 balls (Davies 33; Brookes 5/25, Richardson 3/19) by 53 runs.
