Oval Invincibles land statement win as Zampa, Mahmood, Amir thrive

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Billings, Malan seal emphatic eight-wicket win over Birmingham Phoenix at The Oval

Saqib Mahmood struck twice in his opening set  •  ECB via Getty Images

Oval Invincibles 93 for 2 (Billings 31) beat Birmingham Phoenix 89 (Zampa 3-11) by eight wickets

Defending champions Oval Invincibles romped to victory under the lights at The Kia Oval as the fourth year of The Hundred got underway with two wins out of two for the men’s and women’s South London team.

The Invincibles pace duo of Saqib Mahmood and Mohammad Amir ripped the heart out of Birmingham Phoenix’s first-innings effort, after captain Moeen Ali won the toss and decided to bat, reducing them to 10 for 4 after just 17 balls.

Amir and Mahmood took two wickets apiece, a welcome return to action from injury for England’s Mahmood who last played a game in the Hundred almost three years ago, in 2021.

After Amanda-Jade Wellington took 3 for 9 for Oval Invincibles women’s team in the day’s first game, another Australian leg-spinner in the shape of Adam Zampa replicated her success, skidding his way to figures of 3 for 11.

The stylish Jacob Bethell and buccaneering Benny Howell did their best to repair the top-order damage for Phoenix, but their eventual total of 89 would have been under-par on any surface and never looked enough.

In reply, Invincibles were unfussed and unhurried – waltzing their way to an eight-wicket win with 31 balls left. Captain Sam Billings added some late hitting, after Tawanda Muyeye had given the crowd of 23,621 a glimpse of his talent with a 14-ball 23, to make it the perfect start for both Oval Invincibles teams.

Meerkat Match Hero Zampa said: “It was nice to start that way, especially at home, and it was good for us to continue our success from last year. It’s a good feeling and it’s nice to be in the winner’s circle straight away.

“It wasn’t much of a spinning wicket, to be honest. I enjoy bowling here, I think it skids on a bit and if you get that right it can be hard to hit. I tried to attack the stumps as much as possible today and it worked.

“We’ve had a bit of a chat about what we did well last year and what works here [The Kia Oval]. In particular, starting well here was really important so we talked about the lengths you have to bowl here and how to do well on this ground. A lot of our guys have good experience of playing here so we’ve had a bit of talk about that.

“It’s a really enjoyable competition, I love playing in The Hundred. You feel like it’s a really alien concept but once you’re playing in it, it’s Twenty20 cricket with a couple of tactical changes – and really good tactical changes that I enjoy being a part of: 65-minute innings, that’s the sweet-spot, I love it.”