The Analysis: End of the road for Oval Invincibles as Southern Brave progress

NICK FRIEND looks back on the key moments from Brave's crucial victory over Invincibles at the Ageas Bowl

Brave send Invincibles packing

It should be no surprise that Eoin Morgan is a fascinating commentary voice, talking tactics alongside Rob Key as Oval Invincibles batted first at the Ageas Bowl in a must-win clash against Southern Brave.

It seems a shame that two of the best sides in the competition should have to go up against one another at the back end of the group stage, with space for only one of them in the playoff phase. It was the hosts, Mahela Jayawardene’s men, who came out on top.

Morgan spoke typically warmly about Adil Rashid in the context of Jake Lintott’s capacity to change his pace; he talked up Tymal Mills – a “humble, down-to-earth” runner “on the periphery” of England’s T20 World Cup plans; he explained – with the experience of a man who has captained him with Kolkata Knight Riders – of the difficulties that accompany setting fields for the batting of Sunil Narine and the “bloody nightmare” of facing his off spin.

With the bat, though, Narine’s strengths and weaknesses are well known. This was a difficult task for the off-spinner-turned-white-ball-whacker: he is a fine destroyer of spin, even if his Hundred record wouldn’t suggest so, and he was surely sent in with unloading that fate on Jake Lintott and Danny Briggs in mind.

But three early wickets had fallen by the time he came to the crease, with both Sam Billings and Laurie Evans falling shortly afterwards, and that passage of play eventually proved fatal to Oval’s chances of progression – a shame for several reasons, not least because they appeared an immensely fun team on paper and in reality.

Narine was left somewhere between sticking or twisting and swung without much reward at Lintott, before James Vince threw the ball to Chris Jordan to bounce him out. That plan paid off almost immediately: Narine flat-batted to deep midwicket and Invincibles’ batting line-up – better assembled than the vast majority of their rivals in this competition – was wilting under the pressure of a winner-takes-all scenario.

^{Alex Davies and Colin de Grandhomme saw Southern Brave to victory}

Enter Alex Blake, the least heralded member of Sam Billings’ side, but a teammate of the Kent wicketkeeper who knows better than anyone the power with which the left-hander can slug it. Certainly, few have played Mills with a greater sense of purpose over the last few weeks: he drove him down the fairway for one almighty six and pulverised a slower ball over the legside for another. Not that Morgan will be swayed by one night’s work, but this was Mills’ most expensive outing in Pom-Bear green.

From 99 for 7, Invincibles used their last 26 balls to drag themselves to a competitive total, safe in the knowledge that their batting has been the less dominant of their disciplines since this tournament began. They were indebted to Blake, who whacked 30 runs in boundaries and 44 overall, for that.

His was the only contribution of note after the 17th delivery, when Will Jacks’ remarkable opening salvo had come to a halt. He smashed 39 in 13 balls, which gave Invincibles the semblance of a cushion even when six wickets fell in 40 balls. Ultimately, however, 134 for 7 was well under-par, especially once the dew appeared and Brave’s middle order built the kind of partnerships that would come back to haunt Invincibles’ own batsmen.

The faith in their bowling attack was justified thereafter but simply didn’t have quite enough change to play with: Quinton de Kock, Paul Stirling and James Vince were all gone within 28 balls of Brave’s reply – a gun top three dismantled by a gun cartel of white-ball bowlers, who were ably supported by one of the better fielding displays in a competition that has broadly witnessed plenty of athleticism.

Vince, given his role in England’s World Cup win, should perhaps have known better than to take on Jason Roy’s arm at deep midwicket, before George Garton raced a Laurie Evans misfield from 70 metres away but was defeated nonetheless by the strength of his arm.

De Kock was caught brilliantly at backward point by Roy, who seemed determined to field his team to victory after managing to fumble a Danny Briggs dart onto his stumps via pad and misfortune. Stirling, meanwhile, suffered a fate that was strangely rare, given a tired, used hybrid pitch, falling victim to a Tom Curran slower ball that stopped on him. It was a surprise that more didn’t perish in similar fashion.

But Alex Davies and Colin de Grandhomme are streetwise cricketers – similarly ballsy, though entirely contrasting in their physiques and methods. There were two enormous sixes off the New Zealand allrounder’s bat, while Davies scurried between the wickets – doing for Vince and Garton in the process – and found the gaps in the kind of display that would have intrigued England’s white-ball supremos. Not many could have played a knock so assured. The pair made 40 apiece, ending with a swivel-pull over the ropes from the Lancashire man – albeit not for much longer.

Brave live to fight another day. Invincibles: well, no longer.

^{The end of the road for Jason Roy...}

The Lintott story rolls on

The Jake Lintott story has been well told by now: the schoolteacher who believed his chance might have passed him by in professional sport.

In fact, he told The Cricketer last year that what kept him going in pursuit of his dream had been his point of difference.

“I’ve always wanted to prove people wrong,” said Lintott. “There are people still now who even since I’ve played for Hampshire and Gloucestershire ask why I’m still trying. It’s always been an ambition of mine to play professional cricket; I’ve not given up on it.

“That’s probably because I bowl left-arm wrist-spin and that’s so different. I know that if I get in and do well, opportunities open up and things can move quite quickly. That’s why I’ve not closed the door. Ironically, I think if I was a left-arm spinner, I probably would have stopped. The fact that I’m a bit different drives me on a bit.”

To tonight. It is a rarity for a left-arm wrist-spinner to come up against another of his kind, but he faced the not-insubstantial task of outgunning Tabraiz Shamsi, currently – at least – the world’s top-ranked T20I bowler. Lintott won the battle: 3 for 14 in 20 balls, featuring the wickets of Billings, Narine and Evans. His dismissal of Evans – a googly that deceived the right-hander who edged behind and was stumped in a single movement – was an absolute classic of Lintott’s hardly-seen genre.