Adam Lyth (56) and Adam Hose (53) helped the Northern Superchargers set an unassailable target of 169 which the Birmingham Phoenix never looked like chasing down
Saturday 20 August 2022 07:55, UK
Adam Lyth and Adam Hose both hit half-centuries for the Northern Superchargers as they defeated Birmingham Phoenix at Edgbaston.
Lyth struck 56 from 26 balls including six sixes and nine boundaries to "supercharge" the innings and Hose was unbeaten on 53 from 36 balls as the Northern Superchargers posted a target of 169 for the hosts to chase.
David Wiese, who added 34 from 14, then took three wickets as Birmingham attempted to chase down in vain as they failed to find a foothold in the second innings.
The Phoenix fell to their second defeat of the competition overall, and their first at home, while the Supercharges collected a second victory which could act as a fillip for the remainder of the competition.
An exceptional all-round display from David Wiese and a quickfire Adam Lyth half-century helped Northern Superchargers end Birmingham Phoenix Men's unbeaten home record in front of a packed house at Edgbaston.
Wiese smashed 34 off just 14 balls, including four sixes, to propel the visitors to a solid total of 169-6 batting first. The Namibia international then claimed exceptional figures of 3-15 as the Phoenix fell 33 runs short.
Opener Lyth had earlier set a platform for Wiese's onslaught by smashing an exhilarating 26-ball half-century, while Adam Hose added an unbeaten 53, to get Superchargers off to a flier and silence a bumper crowd of 21,014.
Phoenix's chase faltered with the engine room of Will Smeed, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone and Matthew Wade all falling cheaply inside the first 50 deliveries of their reply.
It was likely to be an uphill battle to defend their flawless home streak from that point, and so it proved as the efforts of Wiese and Lyth were enough to see the Superchargers become the first visiting men's team to win at Edgbaston since The Hundred's inception.
Yorkshireman Lyth wasted little time in getting started. After a quiet opening set bowled by Moeen, the former England Test opener swung Australia seamer Kane Richardson for three consecutive boundaries.
No bowler seemed safe. Livingstone's first two deliveries were both dispatched for four in identical fashion, while even one of the competition's form bowlers Benny Howell was hoicked into the Hollies Stand for a maximum.
Things then got a little trickier for the Superchargers.
The return of Moeen into the attack bought "Super Moeen Ali" chants ringing out wholesale across Edgbaston, and straight away the all-rounder worked his magic to clean bowl Lyth.
Dangerman Harry Brook went for just three not long after thanks to a grab at backward point by Imran Tahir, before David Willey and John Simpson both fell for single figures in quick succession too, leaving Superchargers teetering somewhat at 99-5.
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Hose and Wiese rebuilt strongly, however, and put on 47 for the sixth wicket in quick time.
The latter struck four trademark hammer blows over the rope before falling to the guile of Richardson. A late flurry from Hose bought him to a 32-ball half-century in the final set of the Superchargers innings, helping his side set Phoenix 170 to win.
In reply, Phoenix openers Smeed and Miles Hammond flew out of the blocks to rack up 44 off 20 balls inside the powerplay. But when the competition's first ever centurion holed out to Faf du Plessis for 15, it sparked a collapse.
First Livingstone fell for five, then Moeen went for one. Adil Rashid got Wade caught behind shortly after, and from that point on the result felt much like a foregone conclusion.
Two Superchargers bowlers - Wiese and Rashid - ended the day with economy rates under one a ball, conceding just two boundaries between them from their 40 deliveries, to suffocate a Phoenix outfit built around clearing the ropes regularly.
Wiese said: "That's kind of what I've been doing the whole tournament is coming towards the back end and trying to capitalise on the guys that give us a good start. So you know thankfully, for me, tonight came off.
"I think it's all about confidence when you go in there. You've got to believe in yourself that if something is in your zone, whether it's your first ball or your fifth ball, you know you've got to back yourself to [hit] that and you know if it's in the zone there you've got to go for it and sometimes just pays off for you.
"We've given ourselves a bit of hard work to do to qualify for the playoffs but it's nice to build a little bit of momentum. You don't want to peak too early in the tournament, you want to build momentum towards the back end so, hopefully, we can keep this going, get a couple more wins under our belt and then, you never know, we could just sneak into the playoff spot."
Superchargers captain Faf du Plessis said: "When you start losing three on the bounce you need something to get that momentum changed again, so tonight would have done us the world of good in terms of confidence. Also I think, in terms of defending, we needed it as well.
"I thought we were a little bit under [the required target] but wickets always just bring you back in the game so for our play we were pretty much even with them but then we had that one-and-two wicked over where David (Wiese) really went bang, bang and then we almost felt we were ahead of their game.
"David Weise has been really good all round for us this season. So it's good to see him consistently performing.
"I think we've played really good cricket but I think we've let ourselves down a little bit with some catches. The two times that we put down were guys that went on and scored big, so it's a small margins in a game reduced like this. If you don't take your chances against good players, they'll hurt you."
Next up in The Hundred, the Trent Rockets are back on home turf when they host London Spirit on Saturday - with the women in action from 3.30pm and then men take to the field at 7pm at Trent Bridge.
The Superchargers return home this weekend, when they host the Manchester Originals at Headingley on Sunday (games times the same as above).
The Phoenix are next in action on Tuesday against the Oval Invincibles (women's game at 3pm, men's game from 6.30pm) at The Kia Oval.
Watch every match from The Hundred this summer live on Sky Sports.
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