Sam Billings proves a natural 100-ball captain as Oval Invincibles stay true to their name

ELLEN McLAUGHLIN - HUNDRED RISING: Billings played a decisive role, top-scoring with 49 as his side posted what appeared a par score on a perfect summer's evening, with the Kia Oval crowd rocking

Sam Morshead: This had all the hallmarks of a Blast night... but is that a problem?

The Timeline: Oval Invincibles Men v Manchester Originals Men

Scorecard

Two matches into the much-debated Hundred era and we can at least be certain of one thing – the Oval Invincibles have so far fulfilled the brief of their moniker.

Led by captain Sam Billings, the London-based team secured a double over Manchester Originals to ensure they are, ahem… invincible (so far) in the 100-ball format.

After the ground-breaking success of the Invincibles’ women’s team on Wednesday, 24 hours later it was the men’s turn as they defended a total of 145 to seal the win.

Billings played a decisive role, top-scoring with 49 as his side posted what appeared a par score on a perfect summer's evening, with the Kia Oval crowd rocking.

The response from Manchester was always likely to rest on the star quality of Jos Buttler, bringing all his destructive power, yet even his ability to hit boundaries and sixes was challenged by a pitch that was, without doubt, no batter's paradise.

The left-arm pace of Reece Topley and the mystery spin of Sunil Narine headlined an attack that, on this early evidence, seemed perfectly balanced for the format. Combined, they proved too much for the visitors.

^{Sam Billings led from the front at The Oval on Thursday}

Narine teased Buttler with a sequence of balls that the England star struggled with before the pressure built and eventually the Originals’ key man chipped a simple catch.

From there the visitors could hardly escape the pressure of the home attack.

Nathan Sowter sent Tom Lammonby back to the hutch with his first ball and when Tom Curran entered the fray, his opening five balls resulted in just two singles.

Billings brought back Narine in a key match-up against fellow West Indian Carlos Brathwaite - the man who destroyed Ben Stokes and England in that famous World T20 final five years ago.

Knowing the big West Indian would be looking to hit big, Narine employed his every trick with the ball, and the required rate grew with 27 runs needed from the final 10 balls.

The loudest cheer of the night from the home crowd then followed when Braithwaite, now desperately in search of vital boundaries, could only find Jason Roy on the rope off the bowling of Sam Curran.

The only blemish for the Invincibles was an injury to Saqib Mahmood, who fell on his side fielding a ball, and was restricted to bowling just five balls.

The Hundred Rising is providing eight aspiring, young journalists the opportunity to tell the story of The Hundred men’s and women’s competitions through their own eyes.