For the second time in four days, Manchester Super Giants proved too hot to handle for Sunrisers Leeds, sealing a 20-run win in the Eliminator of the Men’s Hundred at The Oval.
The Super Giants were asked to bat first but Tim Seifert was unable to recreate his heroics from the previous game, falling for a two-ball duck.
The Super Giants were slow to take off before Jos Buttler picked out the fence and Walter broke the shackles at his end too.
Rickelton wasn’t to be left behind himself and the Sunrisers managed 92 at the halfway mark - three more than the Super Giants’ score at the same stage.
Dawson gave away just 13 runs off his ten deliveries to book the Super Giants’ place in the final - their third in the Men’s Hundred, after the erstwhile Manchester Originals made the summit clash in 2022 and 2023.
For the second time in four days, Manchester Super Giants proved too hot to handle for Sunrisers Leeds, sealing a 20-run win in the Eliminator of the Men’s Hundred at The Oval. The Super Giants posted a big score of 186 on the back of Paul Walter’s 80 and Heinrich Klaasen’s 63, before Josh Tongue’s four-fer and a stunning death bowling display by Liam Dawson secured their berth in Sunday’s final against Trent Rockets.
The Super Giants were asked to bat first but Tim Seifert was unable to recreate his heroics from the previous game, falling for a two-ball duck. But if anything, that and a 30-run Powerplay was a false alarm for the Sunrisers. The Super Giants were slow to take off before Jos Buttler picked out the fence and Walter broke the shackles at his end too. Buttler remained the chief aggressor in the 57-run partnership, before falling to a slower one from Matthew Potts for 33.
But his dismissal brought no respite for the Sunrisers as Heinrich Klaasen raced off the blocks and Walter gathered steam at the other end. The southpaw was adjudged caught behind on 49 but he had the decision overturned on review with the ball having hit the thigh pad. He hammered the next ball over the fence - aptly clearing his fancied cow corner region to raise a fifty.
Nothing that the Sunrisers tried worked on a beautiful batting strip. Klaasen raised a 22-ball half-century, getting there with consecutive sixes off Tom Lawes, who went for 48 runs on the day. He failed to get hold of a Nathan Ellis delivery in the blockhole as he holed out to long on, but a partnership of 114 off 62 deliveries inflicted severe damage on the Sunrisers. Walter continued to target the leg-side boundary, finishing with eight sixes in all. His innings witnessed an anticlimactic end though as he turned for a non-existent second run off the last ball before slipping and falling, resulting in a run out.
As the tournament’s standout batter, Mitchell Marsh began with a four and a six off Gus Atkinson, but he miscued a Josh Tongue delivery to fall for his first sub-30 score of the season. Tongue trapped Zak Crawley leg before too to leave the Sunrisers in trouble inside the first ten balls. But an 81-run stand between Harry Brook and Ryan Rickelton revived the chase, the former unleashing his full repertoire of strokes as he greeted Sonny Baker with a 19-run first set. Rickelton wasn’t to be left behind himself and the Sunrisers managed 92 at the halfway mark - three more than the Super Giants’ score at the same stage.
Baker got his redemption when Brook failed to connect with a ramp and was out LBW. That triggered a mini-collapse as Dan Lawrence fell to a stunning Leus du Plooy catch at deep mid-wicket, which was followed by Matthew Revis’ dismissal as the Sunrisers lost three wickets for nine runs. Liam Patterson-White struck a breezy 17 off eight deliveries before Tongue deceived him with a slower one for his fourth wicket.
Rickelton got to his fifty and the Sunrisers needed 34 off the last ten balls when Liam Dawson was summoned into the attack for the first time. It proved to be an inspired move as he nailed three yorkers on the trot to get Rickelton off strike for good before dismissing Brydon Carse immediately. Dawson gave away just 13 runs off his ten deliveries to book the Super Giants’ place in the final - their third in the Men’s Hundred, after the erstwhile Manchester Originals made the summit clash in 2022 and 2023.
