Match Details

BP vs WF 23rd Match, The Hundred 2021

91-1074b

Birmingham Phoenix won by 93 runs

100b184-5

Match info

Live

Scorecard

Player of the Match

Imran Tahir

Birmingham Phoenix

5/25

WF - 2nd Innings

Session	Open	PASS
25 Balls	42	41
50 Balls	78	65
75 Balls	102	91

BP - 1st Innings

Session	Open	PASS
25 Balls	38	35
50 Balls	72	104
75 Balls	148	140
100 Balls	191	184

Commentary

That's it for tonight from all of us at OneCricket. I'm Akshay Bhide signing off on behalf of my co-commentator Arjun Bhalla. Bye Bye. Good night.

Akshay: The Hundred doesn't fail to surprise us. We have just witnessed a hat-trick taken by a 42-year-old in a 100-ball match. How often do you see that? With this win, the Phoenix go at the top of the table. Welsh Fire on the other hand have been knocked out of the competition.

Ben Duckett | Fire captain: Their batting was brutal. We kept losing wickets throughout, and we keep losing wickets in the powerplay, so we can't really do much but stay positive. I haven't won a game as captain, but I have tried to keep a smile on my face while doing it and the best we can hope for is to win the next two games even though we can't qualify.

Moeen Ali | Phoenix captain: Nobody caught him, Tahir, and he was outstanding today in particular. It's the way we are scoring runs, Smeed is getting better and better and this is great for English cricket. He didn't get a lot of strike first. It was a good toss to lose, there was some rain, and there was grip for the spinners. We wanted to win in ways other than chasing, so it was great to set a target. Once we got a sniff, we went for it with the bat. We're just trying to watch the ball and hit it. We have to have the players to hit sixes and we have players in our top 5 who can do that, and we're lucky. Finn and Will play like that. I also play like that. And we have stumbled upon a good batting line-up. We've just tried to keep things simple.

Imran Tahir | 19-10-25-5: Our batters set the tone, gave us a big total. Our seamers did a good job first up. It's been flat, so it's not been easy for the bowlers. We are living in a sad time with COVID and playing here is an honour. I need to be sincere to my job and justify my spot. I knew what I was going to bowl for the hat-trick ball, the googly, and I thought he was expecting the quicker one, and thankfully I got it right.

Imran Tahir is named the Hero of the match for his 5-25, which includes a hat-trick.

Time for the presentation.

Akshay: It was Welsh Fire Ben Duckett who won the toss and put Birmingham Phoenix into bat. The Fire got off to a good start removing Finn Allen on the 11th ball. Skipper Moeen Ali joined Will Smeed and started to go after the bowlers from the word go. It was a pure assault from them as the Welsh Fire bowlers went for a journey. Moeen Ali brought up a quickfire half-century. He was dismissed for 59 but Livingstone ensured that the momentum wasn't lost. He along with Smeed hit some lusty blows as the Phoenix finished on a mammoth 184. Smeed remained unbeaten 65 off just 38 balls. Payne was the pick of the bowlers for Fire, picking 3 wickets. The target of 185 proved to be too much for Welsh side as they well bundled out for 91.

Akshay: Chasing 185 was always a tough task for the Welsh side. They had a shaky start as Tom Banton was dismissed by Milne in the very first over. Duckett and Cockbain stitched a partnership for the second wicket but the former was cleaned up by Howell. It led to a collapse as none of the batsmen got going. Cockbain from the other end tried his level best but departed for 32. The required run-rate kept climbing as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. In the end, it was too much to do for the lower order batsmen and Tahir wreaked havoc as he finished the game with a hat-trick. He picked up a fifer, his first in the Hundred. Benny Howell was impressive picking two wickets as the Phoenix side completed a comprehensive win over the Welsh Fire.

Akshay: What a finish to the game. We have seen it all tonight. Sixes, fours, catches, hat-tricks. And we can't just stop seeing Tahir run on the field. The show was set off by Will Smeed and Moeen Ali with the bat and it ends with a hat-trick from Imran Tahir. Birmingham Phoenix has outplayed the Welsh Fire in all departments as they beat them by 93 runs. This is a huge win for them and they go at the top of the table.

Out

David Payne

0(1)

b I Tahir

4s/6s

0/0

0.00

74b I Tahir to D Payne

W WOWW!!! You are kidding me Imran Tahir. Look at him gooooo. The Edgbaston crowd has gone mad. Imran Tahir picks up a hat-trick as he cleans up Payne. Bowls a googly on the stumps, Payne is completely foxed by it as it crashes on the stumps.

Out

Matt Milnes

0(1)

lbw I Tahir

4s/6s

0/0

0.00

73b I Tahir to M Milnes

W A loud appeal and the finger is raised. Tahir is running and try catching him. Bowls a leg break on the stumps, Milne tries to paddle sweep it but misses and the gets hit on the front pad. The finger is raised in a flash and Tahir is on a hat-trick.