We have seen this one before. For the third year in a row Oval Invincibles rocked up to Lord’s, batted first and ended up with the trophy. As the Hundred signed off on its opening chapter – next year will bring new owners, rebranding and potentially an extreme makeover of squads – this was a fitting result, the Invincibles men having been the standout side for much of it.
Will Jacks and Nathan Sowter, both of whom played in the Invincibles’ first match in 2021, were the ones responsible this time, with Trent Rockets falling to a 26-run defeat. Jacks provided the hits in the first half, finishing with 72 off 41 balls as the Invincibles put up 168, and Sowter ruined the chase quickly. A 10-ball spell by the leg-spinner accounted for the Rockets’ top three of Tom Banton, Joe Root and Rehan Ahmed. Marcus Stoinis briefly threatened with a solo mission, finishing with 64 off 38, but it never turned into a serious fright.
There probably will not be a Last Dance-style docuseries in 25 years on the Invincibles’ Hundred success, with Sam Curran puffing on a cigar as he explains his takedown of Sam Cook at the Oval. But the south London side has been thoroughly watchable, finishing top of the league stage in three successive seasons, their excellence driven by a stable set of players. They entered this contest with nine of the XI from the final last year, confident enough to leave Gus Atkinson on the bench.
The Rockets arrived after a rain-ruined eliminator the night before, their second-place finish sending Northern Superchargers out. Their run was powered by the main-character energy of Ahmed, the 21‑year‑old twirling his leg-breaks while batting at three, and very capable of carrying that charisma into a Lord’s final. But this remained a difficult task for the Rockets made harder by a hamstring injury sustained by the New Zealand quick Lockie Ferguson in the warmups, prompting the last‑second introduction of Dillon Pennington for his first game of this year’s tournament.
Funnily enough, Pennington was the first to strike after the Invincibles batted first, his opening delivery a wide loosener to Tawanda Muyeye. An invitation to send the ball into the grandstand was rejected, Muyeye edging behind for 15.
The opening exchanges, though, still belonged to the Invincibles as Jacks – who drove the first ball of the match to the ropes – thumped away while Jordan Cox, the leading run‑scorer in the tournament, settled in at the other end.
Stoinis thought he had Jacks caught in the deep, but the full toss was a touch too high, prompting the no-ball call. Ahmed’s stump‑to‑stump fizz was handled, too, Jacks getting the reverse sweep out to find the boundary. The Invincibles had 83 runs at the halfway stage of the innings.
Ben Sanderson’s medium pace was pummelled through the off-side and George Linde felt double pain from a dropped chance; the left-arm spinner failed to take a return catch off Cox and, bothered by his finger even after some treatment, left the field. Jacks tonked Ahmed over midwicket to bring up his half-century off 32 balls, with the Rockets threatening to disintegrate.
Ahmed did account for Cox on 40, but Jacks remained locked in, driving Pennington over extra cover for six and perishing with 15 balls left in the innings.
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The Rockets strolled out with their two leading run-scorers, Banton and the ever-evolving Root. The latter struggled for rhythm as the opening pair put on 35 in the powerplay, with some hoo-ha needed against spin. Adam Zampa, signed for just this one game, was the big-name leggie in the Invincibles lineup but it was his less-heralded colleague who broke through.
Sowter, one of two players in the XI without an international cap, invited a Root launch to Jacks at long-on and fizzed one through to rattle Ahmed’s stumps for a duck. Sam Billings kept Sowter on for another set, a call that resulted in a miscue from Banton to long-off. Ten deliveries resulted in three runs and three wickets, Sowter effectively bringing the match to an end with 60 balls to spare.
The 32-year-old found less joy with his next 10, finishing with figures of three for 25, but his animated celebrations continued when he held on by the boundary to dismiss Linde for seven. Stoinis struck back-to-back sixes off Tom Curran to leave Rockets needing 48 off 15, but a fine next set by Saqib Mahmood – the yorker in good order – eased the tension.
