The Hundred men’s competition, Edgbaston
MI London 157-6 (100 balls): Pooran 36 (21); Ahmed 2-7
Birmingham Phoenix 155-7 (100 balls): Weatherley 42 (31); Gleeson 2-29
MI London won by two runs
MI London were eliminated from The Hundred despite posting a hard-fought two-run victory against Birmingham Phoenix in their final group game at Edgbaston.
Having won the previous three men’s titles in the guise of Oval Invincibles, MI needed to win by 59 or more runs to leapfrog third-placed Sunrisers Leeds on net run-rate and reach the Eliminator.
Instead, they finished fourth, level on points with second-placed Manchester Super Giants and Sunrisers, who will face each other in the Eliminator at The Oval on Friday, with the winner taking on table-toppers Trent Rockets in Sunday’s final at Lord’s.
After setting Phoenix a target of 158, Richard Gleeson struck twice early for MI to boost their hopes of restricting their opponents to below the required 98.
But Phoenix fought back from 23-3 through Joe Weatherley and Sean Dickson as the duo all but extinguished the visitors’ chances.
When captain Sam Curran finally trapped Dickson lbw for 23, MI needed to take six wickets for 18 runs to keep their Eliminator dream alive.
That dream was mathematically over after 66 balls of the innings when Phoenix reached 99-4, confirming the three-time champions’ elimination.
Weatherley fell for 42 from 31 balls at 114-6, but Jordan Thompson and Rehan Ahmed took the chase to the final ball, where Trent Boult’s excellent death bowling wrapped up the campaign with a narrow win.
Earlier, Nicholas Pooran led the way with 36 from 21 balls for MI who batted first after losing the toss, while Jason Roy made 26 and James Vince struck a brisk 22 from 12 deliveries as the visitors kept the score ticking despite losing regular wickets.
They finished strongly with Ollie Sykes’ 23 not out and Tom Curran’s unbeaten 17 from nine balls helping them reach 157-6.
Phoenix finished bottom of the table with only one win from eight matches.
