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Matthew Henry
±«Óãtv Sport cricket writer

Manchester Originals moved into the men's Hundred knockout places with a dominant 79-run win against Birmingham Phoenix at Edgbaston.

After setting the Phoenix 155 to win, the Originals, who would have been out with a defeat, dismissed their hosts for 75 in an innings of fine bowling and shoddy batting.

Spinner Tom Hartley removed opener Miles Hammond and captain Moeen Ali in the first five balls and things did not improve for the Phoenix.

Will Smeed hit 31 from 17 balls before he was caught in the deep, while Chris Benjamin was the only other player to reach double figures, with 13.

Opener Phil Salt made 56 from 38 balls in the Originals' 154-6, with Tom Lammonby also hitting an important 26 not out from 12 to boost the score late on.

The Originals are now third in the table, level on eight points with Oval Invincibles and Phoenix and two behind Trent Rockets and London Spirit.

With one round of games to go all five sides can finish in the top three and progress to the knockout stages.

What else happened?

• After cracking five fours and two sixes, Salt was given out lbw to Kane Richardson. He reacted angrily after attempting to review the decision and being told he had ran out of time to do so. Had he reviewed, the decision would have been overturned.
• Lammonby and Ashton Turner shared a partnership of 41 from 19 balls to boost the Originals at the end of their innings.
• As well as a series of poor shots, there were also two run-outs in the Phoenix's chase which resulted in the end of Benjamin and Tom Helm.
• Hartley added to the wickets of Hammond and Moeen by dismissing Brett D'Oliveira and Ben Dwarshuis to finish with figures of 4-22.
• Phoenix all-rounder Liam Livingstone was ruled out of the tournament earlier on Sunday with an ankle injury.

What's next?

The Phoenix play London Spirit on Tuesday in a crucial match for both teams.

The Originals meet the Invincibles on Wednesday in another game that will likely decide who progresses to the knockout stages.

Will Smeed has struggled for runs since becoming the first centurion in The Hundred against Southern Brave, but he gave everyone a reminder of his talent in his 31 tonight.

He just felt the pressure of wickets falling around him and therefore the need to hit boundaries.

Manchester Originals opener Phil Salt on ±«Óãtv Two: "I'm glad we won, in this kind of a tournament it's important to keep playing with the no-fear attitude."

"It was a tough wicket. It was a slow wicket, if you need your boundaries you need to go straight or pick the length and play cross-batted shots. That's how we managed to play, trying to pick the shorter areas, and that's where Lammonby came in, and look how it worked."

On his dismissal: "The thing was not the 15 seconds, the thing was how it came up on the screen. By the time I told them I want to review it, they were all kicking off. The umpires haven't done anything wrong, it's just the kind of game."

On Tom Hartley: "He took the pace off the ball at the right times and knew how to vary his pace. It is something he has worked really hard for with the spin bowling coach and it's what he deserved."

It feels like nobody has really spoke about Manchester Originals yet, but they are slowly bubbling away and starting to produce at the right time.

Phil Salt is the second-highest run-scorer in the tournament with 294, while Paul Walter and Tom Hartley have now both taken nine wickets to put them in the top five wicket-takers.

They were also faultless in the field tonight, taking all their catches and claimed two brilliant run outs.

Manchester Originals bowler Tom Hartley on ±«Óãtv Two: "We thought we had a good score on the board, but we knew that taking the pace off would be the key on that wicket and being conscious of the shorter side of the ground.

"First up I like to fire a few in quicker but once I was in rhythm I was just thinking of mixing up the pace and trying to challenge the batter to hit it over the boundary.

"Obviously we know we have to win every game, we're not putting too much pressure on ourselves but to carry on we've got to keep on winning.

"We saw the Southern Brave last year they won it after losing a few games first up so we want to do the same.

"It's another big game against the Invincibles coming up and they're playing really well too, but we've just got to stick to what we do best and hopefully we'll get the win."

Tom Hartley has just politely reminded us all that Southern Brave won their final five group-stage games last year and then went on to win the tournament.

If Manchester Originals win on Wednesday they would repeat the five-game winning streak and should be in the knockout stages.

This tournament is about peaking at the right time.

That 79-run for Manchester Originals is the biggest margin of victory by runs in this year's men's tournament.

It is the second-highest overall after a 93-run win for Birmingham Phoenix over Welsh Fire last year.

Steven Finn
Former England bowler on ±«Óãtv Two

What a night for Tom Lammonby - this is what tournaments like these do, they unearth such talents.

Gave his team the perfect finish in the end and cleaned up the opposition on the field.

That win takes Manchester Originals into third - the final knockout place.

They know that victory against Oval Invincibles on Wednesday should see them through to the knockout stages.

We can't say it definitely will at this stage, but their net run-rate is 1.2 better than Birmingham Phoenix's after that win. That would take a lot to turn round.

Phoenix's last game is against London Spirit on Tuesday, so the Originals will know the situation ahead of the game at Old Trafford.

Only Will Smeed (31) and Chris Benjamin (13) made double figures for Birmingham Phoenix.

Everyone else was dismissed for a single-figure score.

Phil Tufnell
Former England spinner on ±«Óãtv Two

Manchester Originals keep rolling on. Momentum's huge, all these little things like change of personnel, change of ideas can start ticking for you! Big win.

Birmingham Phoenix's 75 all out is the lowest total in the history of the men's Hundred.

They held the previous record of 87 against Manchester Originals at Old Trafford last year.

Not a side they like facing, clearly.

Scott Read
Commentator on ±«Óãtv Two

It's almost knockout cricket for the Manchester Originals, and they are playing seriously well. Just one more wicket to go.

This is just one example of Manchester Originals' brilliance in the field tonight.

Matt Parkinson has 1-13 from his 15 balls so far.

It really does feel like Manchester Originals are peaking at the right time in this tournament.

It is worth remembering that they've lost Jos Buttler through injury, Andre Russell to a domestic tournament back in the West Indies and Sean Abbott to international duty in the last week or so too.

Scott Read
Commentator on ±«Óãtv Two

Oh, he's gone! That's short by a couple of inches. Excellent bit of work from Lammonby, he had a wonderful day with the bat and now is doing it on the field.

Has Tom Helm been run out looking for a second run?

It is tight. There could be a single frame in it.