Phoenix won by 9 wickets (with 8 balls remaining)
Phoenix to play Southern Brave in eliminator; Oval Invincibles head straight to Lord’s final
Moeen Ali and Ben Duckett celebrate the Phoenix’s progress • Nathan Stirk/ECB via Getty Images
Birmingham Phoenix 42 for 1 (Duckett 22*) beat Manchester Originals 41 for 5 (Milne 2-8) by nine wickets
Birmingham Phoenix will meet Southern Brave in The Hundred Eliminator at The Kia Oval on Saturday after a nine-wicket victory over Manchester Originals.
Moeen Ali’s side came out on top in a 30-ball-per-side match at Edgbaston, earning themselves the point they needed after rain delayed the start.
Phoenix chased down their target of 42 with ease, Jamie Smith depositing Fazalhaq Farooqi over the boundary twice in the first five balls to set the tone for the chase.
After a quieter second five from Farooqi, Ben Duckett smashed Tom Aspinwall’s first ball for six and then hit three of his next four to the boundary as the rain teemed down in Birmingham, the umpires remaining unmoved, determined to see the game to a result.
Smith (14) was caught on the cover boundary by Sikandar Raza off Scott Currie, but Duckett (22*) and Moeen (6*) knocked off the remaining seven runs required with eight balls to spare, the skipper securing the win with a six off Currie over fine-leg.
Winning the toss and bowling first, Birmingham Phoenix struck early, Kiwi speedster Adam Milne removing Matthew Hurst from the second legal delivery of the match when the young Lancastrian skied a chance to Liam Livingstone at mid-on.
Milne’s compatriot Tim Southee took the second set and was immediately smashed into the stands by Phil Salt. He was then sliced over short-third by Max Holden from the final ball of the powerplay as the Originals took their score to 15 for 1.
At the halfway point of the innings, the Originals were 22 for 2, Salt (12) mistiming a cross-bat shot off Milne from the 15th ball of the innings to give Livingstone his second catch of the evening.
Sean Abbott then accounted for Paul Walter (1), caught at deep cover, to make it 24 for 3. Holden (15) continued to swing hard, the left-hander top-edging Southee for another boundary, but his luck soon ran out when he failed to go over mid-off as Livingstone held onto a third catch.
Chris Wood closed out the innings, conceding just three runs and taking the wicket of Raza, caught by Jacob Bethell at deep midwicket as Originals closed on 41 for 5, hitting just one six in their innings.
Phoenix had just 42 to chase to earn a trip to South London and they did it with ease, ensuring Andrew Flintoff’s first year as Northern Superchargers Head Coach would end with a fourth-place finish.
Meerkat Match Hero Milne, who took 2 for 8, said: “To come out of the shortened game and into The Hundred Eliminator is very good for us.
“There was a little bit of swing and seam so it was nice to use that first up, but in these shortened games anything can happen, so [you] just mix it up.
“Anytime it’s moving around off the straight it’s nice. There’s been lots said but as a bowler it’s nice to have a little bit going your way sometimes in these shorter formats, there can be flat wickets and not much movement, so it’s nice to see a bit of swing and seam occasionally.”
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