Category: Holiday, trips and events

For the men’s final we were joined by two people Tom plays football with. Good guys.

Considering my feelings for this version of cricket, it was an enjoyable day out.

Southern Brave 168-5 in 100 balls (Stirling 61 (36), Whiteley 44* (19)) beat Birmingham Phoenix 136-5 in 100 balls (Livingstone 46 (19)) by 32 runs.

Southern Brave were crowned the first men’s Hundred champions after beating Birmingham Phoenix by 32 runs in an action-packed Lord’s final.

Chasing 169, Phoenix’s Liam Livingstone thrashed 46 from 19 balls, animating a raucous Lord’s crowd with an effortless flow of boundaries, before the game swung in dramatic and unlikely fashion.

Tim David, only brought into the Brave’s squad earlier this week, ran out Livingstone with a 60m direct hit from the deep – the in-form Livingstone agonisingly inches short.

Birmingham still needed another 99 from 55 balls and Brave’s impressive bowling attack closed out the game expertly to make the winning margin far greater than looked likely at one stage.

Teacher-turned-Hundred star Jake Lintott had Moeen Ali caught for 36 from 30 balls.

Ireland international Paul Stirling earlier hit 61 from 36 balls for the Brave before Ross Whiteley’s crucial 44 not out from 19 balls lifted them to 168-5.

Thank you again Tom for arranging this event for me. ?

Oval Invincibles 121-6 in 100 balls (Van Niekerk 26 (29), Kapp 26 (14), Bell 2-24) beat Southern Brave 73 all out in 98 balls (Morris 23 (26); Kapp 4-9) by 48 runs.

Oval Invincibles stormed to an emphatic 48-run victory over favourites Southern Brave to become the first women’s Hundred champions on a historic afternoon at Lord’s.

After setting a target of 122, the Invincibles bowled out the Brave for just 73 in a perfect bowling performance.

Marizanne Kapp took three wickets in the first 10 balls – the Brave’s top three batters all out without scoring.

And with a 17,116-strong crowd watching on – a record for a women’s domestic match anywhere in the world – the frantic start continued when Fran Wilson’s brilliant throw ran out Maia Bouchier.

Brave, who cruised through the group stages with seven wins from eight, had no answer to the fired-up Invincibles and subsided to a miserable defeat on the biggest of occasions.

Kapp, who also scored 26 in the Invincibles’ 121-6, took the final wicket and looked in disbelief before she was lifted into the air by her wife Dane van Niekerk, the Invincibles’ masterful, inspirational captain.

I’m not a fan of this version of cricket, but this was a gifted from my former colleagues and friends at Quest for the redundancy that occurred last year.

Of course modern technology, one moment I had the tickets on my phone and the next moment not, but with the help of the cricket helpers outside the ground, we got this sorted via a part of Lords that I have never seen.

Thank you Tom for arranging this. We had good seats in the Compton stand. Considering the weather this day, the game actually started on time, yes we have been hit by rain again.