Southern Brave clinched the first men’s Hundred champions after beating Birmingham Phoenix by 32 runs at Lord’s on Saturday. Paul Stirling smashed 61 off 36 balls while Whiteley scored 44 off 19 to help Southern Brave post 168 runs. Chasing 169, Phoenix’s Liam Livingstone smashed 46 from 19 balls, but no other batsmen in the Phoenix side were able to score quick runs and in the end, fell 33 runs short of the target. Paul Stirling was awarded player of the match in the final.
Southern Brave were the deserving champions of the tournament. They made an excellent comeback and won seven consecutive games after defeats in their opening two games. The head coach Mahela Jayawardene added one more feather under his belt. Having won already three titles with the Mumbai Indians, Jayawardene bagged one more trophy as a head coach.
Liam Livingstone named the MVP of the men’s Hundred
Liam Livingstone was in the form of his life in The Hundred. He finished as the leading run-scorer of the tournament with 348 runs at a blistering strike rate of 178.46. The star English cricketer hit 27 towering sixes and remained the only batsman to smash over 20 sixes in the tournament. He also had the highest strike rate in the tournament – 178.46.
Livingstone recorded the highest individual score of the men’s Hundred. He smashed 92* off just 40 balls against Northern Superchargers. Liam Livingstone also holds the record of the fastest half-century of the inaugural edition of The Hundred. He scored three fifties in the tournament. The 28-year-old was awarded the Men’s Player of the series for his brilliant performance throughout the tournament.
Adam Milne finished as the leading wicket-taker
Adam Milne was the highest wicket-taker of the tournament with 12 wickets. He was also the most economical bowler in the tournament. Milne had an economy rate of 4.78 in the 135 balls he bowled in the tournament. The fast bowler took two wickets and gave away just eight runs in the final. He also bowled 14 dot balls out of his 20 balls quota in the final.
Other Records made in the enaugral edition of The Hundred
1. Samit Patel became the only player to register more than 150 runs and five wickets in the tournament. He scored 179 runs and picked eight wickets from nine matches.
2. Only two players recorded five-wicket hauls in the inaugural edition (M de Lange: 5/20 and Imran Tahir: 5/25).
3. Imran Tahir was the first and the only bowler who took the hattrick in the tournament.
