Invincibles sweep Rockets aside for treble of men’s Hundred titles

We have seen this one before. For the third year in a row Oval Invincibles rocked up to Lord’s, batted first and ended up with the trophy. As the Hundred signed off on its opening chapter – next year will bring new owners, rebranding and potentially an extreme makeover of squads – this was a fitting result, the Invincibles men having been the standout side for much of it.

Will Jacks and Nathan Sowter, both of whom played in the Invincibles’ first match in 2021, were the ones responsible this time, with Trent Rockets falling to a 26-run defeat. Jacks provided the hits in the first half, finishing with 72 off 41 balls as the Invincibles put up 168, and Sowter ruined the chase quickly. A 10-ball set by the leg-spinner accounted for the Rockets’ top three of Tom Banton, Joe Root and Rehan Ahmed. Marcus Stoinis briefly threatened with 64 off 38, but it never turned into a serious fright.

There probably will not be a Last Dance-style docuseries in 25 years on the Invincibles’ Hundred success, with Sam Curran puffing on a cigar as he explains his takedown of Sam Cook at the Oval. But the south London side have been thoroughly watchable, finishing top of the league stage in three successive seasons, their excellence driven by a stable set of players. They entered this contest with nine of the XI from the final last year, confident enough to leave Gus Atkinson on the bench.

“It’s nice to play with people that have been with this team for five years,” said the Invincibles’ Jordan Cox, the leading run-scorer this season. A new player recruitment system next year could rip that connection up. “We’ll try our best to keep a little group together but the cricket world’s changing, whatever they do, the people in the hierarchy can decide that. We’ll just play cricket and try and entertain.”

The Rockets arrived after a rain-ruined eliminator the night before, their second-place finish sending Northern Superchargers out. Their run was powered by the energy of Ahmed, the 21‑year‑old twirling his leg-breaks while batting at No 3, and very capable of carrying that charisma into a Lord’s final. But this remained a difficult task for the Rockets made harder by an injury sustained by Lockie Ferguson in the warmups, prompting the last‑second introduction of Dillon Pennington for his first game of this year’s tournament.

Pennington was the first to strike after the Invincibles batted first, his opening delivery a wide loosener to Tawanda Muyeye. An invitation to send the ball into the grandstand was rejected, Muyeye edging behind for 15.

But the opening exchanges still belonged to the Invincibles as Jacks thumped away while Cox settled in at the other end. Stoinis thought he had Jacks caught in the deep but the full toss was a touch too high, prompting the no-ball call. Ahmed’s stump‑to‑stump fizz was handled, too, Jacks getting the reverse sweep out to find the boundary. The Invincibles had 83 runs after 50 balls.

View image in fullscreen Nathan Sowter jumps for joy, next to teammate Sam Billings, after taking the wicket of Joe Root for 10. Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images

Ben Sanderson was pummelled through the off-side and George Linde felt double pain from a dropped chance; the left-arm spinner failed to take a return catch off Cox and the blow to the hand forced him off the field. Jacks tonked Ahmed over midwicket to bring up his half-century off 32 balls, with the Rockets threatening to disintegrate. Ahmed did account for Cox on 40, but Jacks remained locked in, driving Pennington over extra cover for six and perishing with 15 balls left in the innings.

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The Rockets strolled out with their two leading run-scorers, Banton and the ever-evolving Root. After a 32-run powerplay, some hoo-ha was needed against spin. Adam Zampa was the big-name leggie in the Invincibles lineup but it was his less heralded colleague who broke through.

Sowter, one of two players in the XI without an international cap, invited a Root launch to Jacks at long-on and rattled Ahmed’s stumps for a duck. Sam Billings kept Sowter on for another five, a call that resulted in a miscue from Banton. Ten consecutive deliveries resulted in three runs and three wickets, Sowter in effect bringing the match to an end with 60 balls to spare.

A new-look tournament awaits, though the prospect of a switch to Twenty20 does not appeal to Cox. “I absolutely love the [Hundred] format, I think it’s the best format,” he said, questioning the value of competing with the Indian Premier League. “What’s the point in trying to change it to be second best? Why ruin it?”

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