The Hundred 2023: Sam Billings hits brilliant half-century as Oval Invincibles beat Trent Rockets to reach final
- Published
Trent Rockets take a team hat-trick against Oval Invincibles
The Hundred men's competition, Kia Oval |
Trent Rockets 148-7 (100 balls): Munro 36 (35), Gregory 35 (24); Zampa 2-20, T Curran 2-31 |
Oval Invincibles 151-5 (92 balls): Billings 76 (40), Jacks 31 (22); Sams 2-38 |
Invincibles win by five wickets |
Sam Billings hit a brilliant unbeaten half-century as Oval Invincibles sealed their place in the Hundred final with a five-wicket victory over Trent Rockets.
Captain Billings hit 76 from 40 balls as Invincibles won with eight balls to spare at the Kia Oval.
Rockets earlier posted 148-7 with Colin Munro top-scoring with 36 from 35 balls and Lewis Gregory adding 35 from 24.
The win means Invincibles cannot now be caught at the top of the table and progress directly to Sunday's final.
Defending champions Rockets stay third on net run-rate ahead of Southern Brave and Welsh Fire, but need both those sides and London Spirit to lose their final match in order to stay in the final knockout qualification position.
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Oval Invincibles men's team are through to their first Hundred final, having failed to qualify for the knockout stages in each of the first two years.
Billings' innings included five fours and five sixes - one of which went 122 metres into the top tier of the stand.
Trent Rockets took a team hat-trick, with Luke Wood dismissing Jason Roy before Daniel Sams removed Tawanda Muyeye and Sam Curran in successive deliveries to leave Invincibles wobbling on 21-3.
Gregory and Munro were the bedrock of the Rockets' innings, putting on 70 for the fifth wicket after the visitors were reduced to 54-4.
The Hundred 2023: Joe Root hits six for Trent Rockets batting against Spencer Johnson
'It has been a real team effort' - what they said
Match Hero, Oval Invincibles' Sam Billings: "It has been quite a while since I hit it that well. It has been a long summer so it was nice to see some of the work behind the scenes actually come off. It wasn't the perfect scenario to come in but it was an opportunity to bat and get myself in and then I just played to my strengths. It was really pleasing to get over the line.
"It is amazing to qualify and go straight to the final. It was big boots to fill with Heinrich Klaasen, he's arguably been the best player in the world in the last year, so it was about someone stepping up and filling those shoes and thankfully I got it done.
"That is the story of our summer, everybody has stepped up at different times. It has been a real team effort. There isn't a single person in the squad who hasn't played a part in getting through to the final."