Delhi: Manchester Super Giants defeated Birmingham Phoenix by 87 runs in The Hundred. Batting first in this match played at Old Trafford, the Manchester team set a challenging target for Birmingham by scoring 187 runs in 100 balls. In reply, Birmingham Phoenix’s batting completely disintegrated and the team could never make a comeback in the match.

With this victory, Manchester Super Giants also achieved a strong position in the points table.

Manchester Super Giants, who came to bat first, suffered an initial blow when Tim Seifert returned to the pavilion early. However, after this Jos Buttler took charge and adopted an aggressive style from the beginning. He increased the pace of the team by hitting big shots against Saqib Mahmood. During the powerplay, the team scored runs rapidly, due to which the opposition bowlers came under pressure. On the other hand, Aiden Markram could not last long, where Rihan Ahmed dismissed him.

After this, Heinrich Klaasen supported Butler well and both the batsmen strengthened the score by hitting fours and sixes continuously.

Despite some early wickets falling in the middle order, Manchester’s momentum did not stop. After the dismissal of Louis de Ploy and Heinrich Klaasen, Tom Moores batted stormily in the last overs. He took the team’s score to 187 runs by hitting consecutive sixes on Usman Tariq and Rihan Ahmed. On the other hand, Jos Buttler also stayed till the end and played a brilliant inning of 90 runs. He remained only 10 runs away from the century, but his innings proved to be the biggest attraction of the match.

Birmingham Phoenix, which set out to chase the target of 188 runs, had a very bad start. Josh Tong broke the back of the opposition team by bowling Will Smeed and Rihan Ahmed in the initial overs. The team, which was trying to recover from the initial shock, was put in further trouble by Liam Dawson and Gus Atkinson taking consecutive wickets. By half the innings the match had almost tilted in favor of Manchester.

After this, Noor Ahmed also demonstrated brilliant bowling. He also ended all the hopes of Birmingham by dismissing Donovan Ferreira and Ben Dwarshuis early.

In the end, with the wicket of Usman Tariq, the entire team collapsed and Manchester Super Giants registered a one-sided victory by 87 runs. With the second consecutive win, the team also strengthened its claim in the new season.