Oval Invincibles retain men’s Hundred cricket title. London Spirit wins women’s edition

LONDON (AP) — Oval Invincibles became back-to-back champions of the Hundred cricket competition with a 17-run victory over Southern Brave at Lord’s on Sunday.

With Brave set a target of 148 for victory, the game was in the balance before three wickets in six balls from Saqib Mahmood ripped the energy out of the run-chase and saw Invincibles become the first team to register four trophies across the men’s and women’s competitions.

Mahmood removed Leus du Plooy, Kieron Pollard and Laurie Evans between the 72nd and 78th balls and when Chris Jordan followed them back to the pavilion four balls later, the game was settled as a contest.

The Invincibles scored 147-9 with Southern Brave finishing on 130-7.

Earlier Sunday, London Spirit successfully chased down a target of 116 to beat Welsh Fire and claim the women’s Hundred title in front of a record 22,008 spectators at Lord’s.

London Spirit scored 118-6 off 98 balls in reply to Welsh Fire’s 115-8.

In a tense finale, it was left to Deepti Sharma and Charlie Dean to get their team over the line, with allrounder Sharma finishing off with a six over long-on with just two balls left.

Sharma’s strike hung in the air and briefly appeared to be heading to Shabnim Ismail on the boundary, but there was enough power to go all the way and bring an end to a topsy-turvy encounter.

Head coach Ashley Noffke and captain Heather Knight celebrated London Spirit’s first trophy in The Hundred.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket