Narine’s heroics help Invincibles beat Spirit

The Hundred, men’s competition; London Spirit v Oval InvinciblesLondon Spirit 131 all out (100 balls): Rossington 39; Sowter 3-34Oval Invincibles 132-7 (99 balls): S Curran (34); Worrall 2-23; Thompson 2-23Oval Invincibles won by three wicketsScorecard,TableSunil Narine took a miserly 2-14 and then plundered 13 off five balls at the death to give Oval Invincibles a three-wicket victory over London Spirit in their opening match of The Hundred.Adam Rossington (39) and Matthew Wade (37) helped Spirit post 131 at Lord’s as Nathan Sowter finished with 3-34.The Invincibles slipped to 24-3 in response but Sam Curran (34) and Sam Billings (25) rebuilt the innings.Narine hit a six and four off Nathan Ellis to help seal the win.What else do you need to know?Wade produced an incredible parry on the boundary to prevent a six from Gus Atkinson with six balls left Daryl Mitchell was unable to repeat the trick with four balls remaining as he fumbled Narine’s shot over the boundaryEngland all-rounder Sam Curran took 1-31 while Atkinson collected 1-22 on his debut in The Hundred as he regularly bowled at 90mph Will Jacks was dismissed for the third time in the space of 11 balls by Jordan Thompson in The Hundred at the cost of just 14 runs’I tried to stay calm’ – what they saidMatch Hero Narine talking to BBC Two: “It is tough coming in at the end. It is cricket and when you come out on the winning side it gives you courage and momentum. I just tried to keep calm and make contact. “If you make contact you never know what is going to happen. If you miss the ball you put yourself under pressure. I’ve watched Nathan Ellis for so many years. He backs his slower ball. You never know what he is thinking at the top of his mark.”I just keep it simple with the ball. The wickets will come. That’s something I’ve tried to do in my career and it just continues. Once it is on the stumps the batter has to make contact with the ball. I’m just bowling stump to stump and that is the most you can ask.”You can watch Hundred matches on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer every Wednesday and Saturday throughout the competition, alongside both finals on Sunday, 27 August.

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