BP vs OI, review | Liam Livingstone leads from front with unbeaten kock as Pheonix beat Invincibles by four wickets

‌Birmingham Phoenix won the toss and elected to field first in their second home game of the season, and started with a wicket on the second ball as Will Jacks was dismissed for a blob by Trent Boult after gifting a simple catch to mid-off. The Kiwi pacer did not stop there as he returned for a second over to get the wicket of Jack's opening partner, Twanda Muyeye, with a beautiful nip-backer. The Phoenix had dominated the power play with the Invincibles struggling on a score of 31/2 after 25 balls. The situation seemed to have gotten worse for the Visitors as they lost Sam Curran straight after the first 25 balls as he feathered a well-directed bouncer by Adam Milne straight to the keeper, but Invincibles skipper Sam Billings and Jordan Cox steadied the ship with an important fourth wicket stand in the middle overs. With 39 runs coming from the next 25 balls, they were in a decent position at 70/3 after 50 balls. The Birmingham Franchise refused to back down even after the partnership looked threatening, as Liam Livingstone came into the attack and got the important wicket of Billings. Despite losing an important wicket at the start of the second half of the innings, Cox was joined by Donnovan Ferreira, who straight away took the attack to the bowlers while he chose to control the strike at the other end. A total of 43 runs came in the next 20 deliveries, taking the defending champions' score to 113/4 at the end of 70 balls. Phoenix came back in the next two overs with Dan Mousley dismissing Cox after his well-composed knock of 44 off 30 deliveries, and Milne returned for his final over to dismiss Tom Curran. Unfortunately, that is where the celebrations came to an end as Ferreira continued his wrath and got the needed support from Rashid Khan at the other end. The 48-run stand between the two took the Invincibles to a strong total of 180/8 at the end of their innings. Though Ferriera was eventually dismissed in the final over after a great knock of 63 off just 29 deliveries, and Rashid was dismissed after his nine-ball cameo on the last delivery by Benny Howell, the damage was already done as 67 runs came off the last 30 deliveries.

The opening stand for Birmingham Phoenix failed to get going once again as Ben Duckett’s stumps were knocked over by Saqib Mahmood early on. However, Will Smeed and Joe Clarke managed to get some important runs towards the end of the powerplay as the chasing team ended the first 25 balls on a score of 38/1. The duo continued the run-flow until Sam Curran came into the attack and broke the 63-run stand with the wicket of Clarke, who became a wicket by a beautiful diving catch from Rashid at mid-wicket. Despite the unfortunate dismissal, the hosts were still in a strong position at 82/2 after 50 balls. Though a decent platform was set halfway into the chase, the tables suddenly turned in favor of the two-time champions as Smeed’s wonderful knock of 51 came to an end after being dismissed in one of the most unusual ways. The opener failed to get under the quick and flat delivery by Nathan Sowter and managed to get an inside edge, which brushed off his pads and crashed into the stumps. There was a bit of a break in the run-flow, which forced Jacob Bethell into attempting a big hit off Tom Curran, which ended up being a simple catch for Jacks at long off. The score after 75 balls was 120/4, and the Birmingham franchise needed 61 off the last 25 deliveries. While it seemed like a tough ask for the Phoenix, their skipper had other plans as Livingstone smacked Rashid's final over for 26 runs, which included three sixes and two boundaries. This massive over brought the equation down to 35 off 20. There was a bit of hope created for the Oval franchise with Sam Curran bowling an important 10-ball over, which cost them only 13 runs. However, the Birmingham captain seemed to have saved some big hits for his brother, who conceded another 19 runs in the penultimate over to leave just three runs of the last five balls of the match. Mahmood tried his best to save the game with two consecutive wickets of Mousley and Louis Kimber. Unfortunately, all his efforts went in vain as Howell managed to find the gap between covers and mid-off off in the very next delivery, which found the boundary rope to ruin his hat-trick chances and finish the game as  Phoenix won the game with four wickets remaining and two balls to spare. 

Liam Livingstone was the player of the match for his unbeaten match-winning knock of 69 off 27 deliveries and an important wicket of Sam Billings in the first innings.