The commentary is not available for this match. Please check the scorecard for latest updates.
That's all from this one sided contest! This is Dwaipayan Mukherjee, signing off alongside Darpan Tikiya. Take care! We will see you soon!
Joe Clarke (Player of the Match): "I feel in good rhythm and confident. Happy to contribute to the team's win. The pitch started a bit slow. Great to have Ben (Duckett) at the other end. We talked about spending some time in the middle, knock it around for a bit. In the end, happy to get the win."
8:24 PM local time, 12:54 AM IST: Birmingham Phoenix (113 for 3) defeat Manchester Originals (109 for 7) by 7 wickets
Ben Duckett - 49* (38) | Josh Tongue - 2/34 Joe Clarke - 40 (21) | Sonny Baker - 1/20
110 was never going to be a very challenging order for the Phoenix. It was Originals who were forced to change the course of the match. Sonny Baker is one of the emerging talents of this competition. If Originals were to get anywhere close to winning tonight, they needed him to strike big and early. He removed Smeed as he sent down 15 deliveries within the power play. Maybe if he would have gotten a couple more then, the story of this game might be a little different.
Phoenix were in no hurry to collect quick runs. Originals needed wickets to win. Much to their chagrin, 3 consecutive boundaries by Joe Clarke early in his innings got the equation down to almost run a ball. Originals' most successful bowler this year, Josh Tongue, had been taken to the cleaners. The middle overs has been an area of concern for Salt's men. Noor Ahmad had not picked up the required amount of wickets in this phase of the game which often allows team to dictate terms in a fast paced format like this one.
There was some turn on offer on this pitch. Reverse sweeps and efforts to nudge the ball to the leg side met thin air for a while before Ish Sodhi was comfortably picked for boundaries. Just when it looked like Originals sensed an opportunity to squeeze up some of the runs and hope for a miraculous turn of events, Duckett and Clarke found the boundary ropes to ensure this match was a foregone conclusion.
The duo found no demons in the surface as they orchestrated a wonderful half century stand, taking their side towards victory very quickly. One could watch the shoulders of the fielding side drop. This has been an ordinary outing for the home side. Josh Tongue returned towards the end of the game to mark Liam Livingstone as his 12th wicket in this edition of the tournament but it did not hurt the result of the contest, for it was inevitable by then.
15.3 Scott Currie to Ben Duckett, CRACKED AWAY! FOUR! With this, Birmingham Phoenix notch-up a convincing victory and Manchester Originals have copped up a drubbing in their own backyard. Long half-volley outside off. Duckett clattered it through extra cover.
15.2 Scott Currie to Jacob Bethell, good length, at the pads. Deft flick to deep square leg gets him a single.
15.1 Scott Currie to Jacob Bethell, very full at the off and middle. Dug out back to the bowler.
15.0
14.5 Sonny Baker to Ben Duckett, BUMPER! Duckett gets hurried on and hence, fails to connect the pull shot.
Scott Currie is back into the attack!
14.4 Sonny Baker to Jacob Bethell, full one heading down the leg side. Bethell fails to connect with the flick and the ball goes to fine leg off the front pad. One run taken.
14.3 Sonny Baker to Ben Duckett, similar line and length. Duckett goes for the pull again and the ball ends up bouncing in front of Hartley, who was barging in from the backward square leg boundary. One run.
14.2 Sonny Baker to Ben Duckett, TIMED WELL ENOUGH! SIX! Similar line and length. Duckett swats it over backward square leg.
14.1 Sonny Baker to Ben Duckett, BUMPER from around the wicket, but pace-off, aimed at the body, 72 mph. Duckett tried to pull that one and ended up mistiming it completely. The ball trickled to the keeper.
Sonny Baker is back into the attack!
Josh Tongue becomes the first bowler from his team to complete his full quota of allotted deliveries - he's given away 34 runs but also picked up a couple of wickets.
14.0
13.5 Josh Tongue to Jacob Bethell, shorter ball, but does not climb onto the batter. Bethell's mistimed pull towards the front of square leg fetches a run.
13.4 Josh Tongue to Jacob Bethell, good length ball at the off pole. Tapped back to the bowler.
13.3 Josh Tongue to Jacob Bethell, hard length ball angled into the body from around the wicket. Tucked away neatly towards deep backward square leg for a couple.
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