The novel England Cricket Board venture The Hundred witnessed a thrilling entertainer on just the second matchday, as the London Spirit held their nerve to pull off a three-run victory against the Sam Billings-led Oval Invincibles.
Both teams played their opening game of the season, and it would be safe to assume that while both teams would be more or less delighted with their respective batting performances, the bowling displays of either side would be cause for concern.
Billings won the toss against his former skipper Eoin Morgan at the Kensington Oval, and opted to bowl first against a rather star-studded London Spirit batting line-up. Sure enough, the London Spirit openers started off on a positive note, getting balls to the fence early on.
Both Zak Crawley and Adam Rossington were dismissed by Pakistani pacer Mohammed Hasnain before the wily Sunil Narine got rid of the dangerous Glenn Maxwell.
Dan Lawrence and Morgan subsequently added 72 for the fourth wicket in a most important partnership as the Spirit score raced along. Morgan in particular was fantastic, as he scored 47 in just 29 deliveries, taking his side to an excellent total of 171/6.
In response, the Invincibles suffered what can only be described as a catastrophic start, as Jordan Thompson and Nathan Ellis ran through their top order, leaving them stunned at 12/4. Jordan Cox and the experienced T20 veteran Hilton Cartwright brought the Invincibles back on track, but frequent wickets again meant that the side were staring down a barrel, with 49 to get in the last 17 deliveries.
However, it was Danny Briggs who managed to keep the Invincibles well within the game, playing a superb cameo of 29* in just 11 deliveries. However, his heroics could not be matched by Narine at the other end, who was only striking at 128, leading to the London Spirit pulling off a nail-biting victory in a game that went down to the wire.
Nathan Ellis was named man of the match for his excellent performance with the ball, as he finished with figures of 3/28.
