Northern Superchargers beat Oval Invincibles to go level with table leaders

The blockbuster tie at Headingley between the Hundred's top two saw Northern Superchargers overcome the Oval Invincibles with a spectacular six-hitting blitz from Harry Brook and Zak Crawley.

In a competition which has tended to favour teams who chase, the Superchargers bucked the trend, going hard immediately to set an ultimately insurmountable target. Crawley was irresistible, smacking three maximums and five fours in his 25-ball stay, only miscuing a Nathan Sowter legbreak to long-off with a fifty at his mercy.

He dominated an opening stand of 76 with Dawid Malan, the two yet again complementing each other beautifully to careen to 49 from the Powerplay, before Brook took over the latter stages with another display of outrageous strokeplay, with a one-handed scythe for six over the deep-third boundary one of five sixes struck from his 27 balls at the crease.

Sowter was the pick of the Invincibles bowlers, going for just 29 from his 20, but the Curran brothers, Tom and Sam, were treated mercilessly, giving up 83 runs between them from just 35 balls.

In reply, Will Jacks and Tawanda Muyeye got off to a flyer, but when Jacks miscued a leg-side flick to be caught on the offside for an 11-ball 25, giving Jacob Duffy the first of his two wickets, the game shifted back to the home side.

The combination of Jordan Cox, one of the breakout stars of this year's competition, and Sam Curran briefly threatened another extraordinary heist. But when Cox was outfoxed by Tom Lawes to hole out in the deep for 24 and Curran edged Matthew Potts to Michael Pepper, the task became impossible. Even a violent 15-ball 41 from the big-hitting Donovan Ferreira was not enough.

Tellingly, Ferreira's four sixes made up half of the Invincibles' total tally of maximums, against 14 struck by the Superchargers - which also featured a hat-trick of sixes from David Miller in the final set of five. In a game of monstrous hitting, the home side prevailed to take a statement win.

"I thought the boys batted beautifully on a good pitch with a fast outfield, and to get a score near enough to 200 was the perfect start to the first innings," Brook said. "I'm not one - and the team isn't one - for searching for scores, we assess the conditions as quick as possible and try and communicate off the field what we think is the best score.

"I thought our bowlers did a great job there. We were a bit unlucky at times, but they toiled really well there. It's a beautiful win tonight and we're happy with the momentum we can take into the next game."