Twitter Reactions: Sam Billings takes Oval Invincibles into top three

Oval Invincibles, on Wednesday, August 2, got themselves into the third position in the points table the ongoing men’s Hundred. They defeated Welsh Fire by six wickets with seven balls left. The Fire are placed fourth, one spot below the Invincibles, with a net run rate of 0.149.

Duckett stands tall for the Fire

After being put in to bat first, the Fire lost their openers- Tom Banton and Josh Cobb- early. Glenn Phillips strained as well and got out to Tabraiz Shamsi. However, Ben Duckett and Leus du Plooy stitched together a 38-run stand to inject some momentum into the innings.

But it was skipper Duckett, who did a bulk of the scoring. The southpaw went on to score 65 runs off 52 balls with the help of seven fours and one six. His knock took the Fire to a respectable score of 121. For the Invincibles, Tom Curran was the pick of the bowlers with three scalps.

Billings steps up

In the run-chase, the Invincibles lost the early wickets of Jason Roy to Matt Milnes. However, Will Jacks and Sunil Narine played their strokes to bring their team back into the game. James Neesham gave the Fire some breather after getting rid of both Jacks and Narine in quick succession.

Colin Ingram had a torrid time as he scored a 16-ball nine before Qais Ahmad trapped him plumb in front. From there on, Sam Billings stayed unbeaten on a 34-ball 40 to see his team through to a win. Laurie Evans lent him the apt support, scoring 28 off 17 with one four and two sixes.

Great work in front of the home crowd: Sam Billings

After the loss, Duckett was a tad agitated and admitted that his team couldn’t put enough runs on the board. Billings was over the moon, but also stressed improving his team’s fielding.

“We are obviously gutted we didn’t get over the line. We were definitely short, we kept losing wickets, there was never any momentum. So proud of the way the lads fought to take it that close. Was two-paced, didn’t spin a great deal. We were short with the bat and that was the problem today,” Duckett was quoted as saying.

“The bowlers did really well in the last game and showed their class on a really good wicket as well. Great work in front of the home crowd. Our fielding in the last couple of games, we need to work on if we want to go all the way. It’s such a key in the shorter formats,” Billings said.

Here’s how the netizens reacted to Oval Invincibles’ win

Thanks @sambillings u made a little boys day🏏🏏 #TheHundred pic.twitter.com/etkzrEzsBf

— Michael Tingle (@tingle148) August 2, 2021

Welsh Fire (Men) : 121/7 (100 balls)
Oval Invincibles (Men) : 125/4 (93 balls)
Invincibles won by 6 wickets
Player of the match : Sam Billings (Oval Invincibles)#TheHundred 🏏 pic.twitter.com/3Er189Zo32

— Ishara Isuru 🏏⚽️🏉 (@Ishisuru1) August 3, 2021

Fireworks from @sambillings in the @thehundred at @KiaOvalEvents with @C_McNeill6 @Chri5rowell pic.twitter.com/AMLqBMNiUL

— Nick Miller (@nick_d_miller) August 2, 2021

Weird seeing Kent playing against Kent in #TheHundred Qais Ahmed had another good game Milnes played well too! If it wasn’t for Sam Billings I would of ended up supporting Welsh Fire

— 🚜💙Anna💙🚜 #OFBF (@tractor_girl99) August 2, 2021

@sambillings you adorable talented man

— a | venom era (@jarvelous_stark) August 2, 2021

Say what you like about @thehundred it’s entertaining as well you pick the word, @sambillings & @LaurieEvans32 outstanding tonight @sambillings should be playing more for @ECB_cricket #qualityplayer #TheHundred

— Neil Young (@youngy289) August 2, 2021

@sambillings once again quality leadership and batting, this lad is so unrated, speaks well and never disappoints! He needs to go all the way! #TheHundred #Invincible

— Gavin Plume (@ChairBadger) August 2, 2021

#cricket #TheHundred Sam Billings is named as Player of the Match.

— Thomas Sutcliffe (@aspitweets) August 2, 2021

Sam Billings should be in @englandcricket red ball squad. That’s the tweet. #TheHundred2021 #ENGvIND

— andrew willis (@bear44willis) August 2, 2021