Superchargers lead by Brook win three straight while the Originals falter in the chase

The Northern Superchargers defeated the Manchester Originals in the northern derby at Headingley in the Hundred on Sunday, winning two out of three. Following the triumph of Hollie Armitage’s team earlier in the day, Harry Brook‘s squad defeated the team across the Pennines by a margin of 14 runs.

With rain falling prior to the commencement of the match and heavy skies overhead, the Originals made the wise decision to bowl after winning the toss. Naturally, then, Fazalhaq Farooqi took a wicket with the opening ball of the game, which caused the Superchargers to get off to a sluggish start at bat.

Superchargers were limited to 167 for 5 by the Originals at the close of their innings, following a strong middle section from the home team.

With a well-paced fifty-run partnership, Graham Clark and captain Brook rebuilt the innings. Before being caught low to the ground by Scott Currie at mid-off, Brook went on to hit an amazing 58 off 33.

The Originals’ innings got off to a very promising start with the opening partnership of 90 between captain Phil Salt and Matty Hurst. Hurst scored the most with 78 from 45, followed by Salt with 40 from 27.

Unfortunately, three crucial run-outs and Mitchell Santner’s 2 for 23 innings led the winless Originals to surrender from 90 for 1 to 128 for 4. Following Hurst’s departure, the Originals needed to score 29 points from 13, but they couldn’t cross the finish line, which left them at the bottom of the standings and the Superchargers in third place.

“I thought they were the favourites coming out of the powerplay, but we bowled incredibly well at the end to get the win,” Meerkat Match Hero Brook stated.

“We stayed on target even if we didn’t have the batting powerplay we had hoped for. Because of how fast the outfield is here, I didn’t think I needed to hit many balls into the air; instead, I just tried to puncture the gaps, and it worked. My intention was to stay in until the very end in order to exert pressure on them. Fortunately, I hit a few gaps and felt good at the beginning.

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“We always had a take-wickets mentality, but when we were 90 without loss in the powerplay and we didn’t get a wicket, we definitely had to consider that a little more. So I threw the ball to Mitch [Santner] and Adil Rashid, and they did a great job taking some vital wickets that helped us win.”