Cricket News The Hundred 2022

'Birmingham Phoenix douse the Welsh Fire' - Twitter thrilled as the game between Birmingham Phoenix and Welsh Fire goes down to the wire

Welsh Fire captain  Josh Cobb won the toss and choose to field. He was happy to send the Phoenix in to Bat First

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The Hundred 2022

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Top bowling at the death by Kane Richardson and Tom Helm with Welsh Fire needing 13 to win off 10 balls allowed Birmingham Phoenix to end up with a four-run victory from the jaws of defeat against Welsh Fire at Cardiff.

Having only reached 130 in their 100 balls, it seemed like Welsh Fire would notch their first win of the summer in front of a boisterous home crowd. David Miller, with 35 off 30, almost got the Welsh team over the line, but the huffing and puffing, in the end, did not yield a positive result.

Birmingham Phoenix has now two wins from three games and look like going all the way in The Hundred-ball competition. Australian pacer Richardson was named the Hero of the Match as he took 2 for 15 in his 20 balls, including 11 dot balls.

Welsh Fire captain Josh Cobb won the toss and chose to field. Three days before, last season's runners-up had notched 176 in a revenge win over the reigning champions Southern Brave, with 20-year-old opener Will Smeed scoring Hundred's first century in this edition.

He looked good to score a ton again, but David Payne dismissed him after a mere four balls, and Will Smeed went without scoring. The Welsh Fire fast bowlers kept a tight rein on the Phoenix batters and they limped to 50 off 50 balls, having lost four wickets.

Moeen Ali and Chirs Benjamin put in some rearguard action with a stand of 22 for the second wicket before two wickets fell in 5 balls which were bowled by George Scrimshaw. Moeen was caught behind after striking a boundary and three balls later, Liam Livingstone gave his big wicket away trying to ramp the home quickie. That made it 27 for 3 at the end of the powerplay.

Cobb then came on and managed to tighten the leash. Chris Benjamin was caught on the boundary by Dwaine Pretorius, although claimed the maximum as the South African fell over the boundary, but Cobb bowled him next ball.

Phoenix was 37 for 4 after 40 and in need of a rebuilding act. It came from Aussie star Matthew Wade and Miles Hammond, who put on 52 for the fifth wicket. Wade hit Scrimshaw, Pretorius, and Adam Zampa for sixes, but then Zampa dismissed him eventually. He scored 38 as the Phoenix slumped to 94 for 6 with 22 balls to go.

They reached 130 for 7 in the end. Phoenix didn't concede a run in the first set of five balls from Richardson and he also removed Joe Clarke. Sam Hain wasn't going to hang around, ramping a six to get off the mark. He eventually chopped onto a slower ball from Helm, having scored 23 off 15 balls to leave Fire 28 for 2.

Tom Banton finished the powerplay with a four and a six to take the home side to 34, but when Ben Duckett was bowled by Ben Howell, Welsh Fire were placed at 53 for 3. They reached the 50-ball mark with 59, nine runs ahead of the Phoenix total. The game could have swung either way.

Banton and Miller put on 32 for the fourth wicket, including 11 runs from Imran Tahir's five balls bowled. Consecutive maximums from Miller off Livingstone put Fire back in the driving seat, but Richardson conceded just two from the penultimate set and Helm defended 11 from the last over to hush the home crowd down.

Twitter was on fire as usual and we will take a look at some of the reactions here-

 

Cricket News The Hundred 2022