A blistering half-century with the bat
Invincibles had got off to a slow start after winning the toss at Lord's. The third wicket fell at the score of 80 on the 66th ball, bringing Curran to the center. After taking a few deliveries to get his eye in and ambling to four off six balls, Curran unleashed his first boundary of the match, a hooked six off Andre Russell.
There was no looking back from there for the left-hander. He hit five more sixes in the 15 more balls he faced, finishing up with 51 not out off 22. After captain Sam Billings retired himself out on the 87th ball of the innings, Curran hit four sixes in the remaining 13 to help take Invincibles to 147-5.
The first hat-trick of The Hundred 2024
Curran came on to bowl for the fourth set of five. He started poorly, conceding two wides and a boundary off the first four balls he bowled. He was taken out of the attack before returning for a second spell in the 12th set. From his first 10 balls, Curran gave 14 runs for no wickets, before turning things around towards the end of the Spirit innings.
Coming in to bowl the 18th set, Curran dismissed Matt Critchley on the second ball, before taking out Liam Dawson, Olly Stone, and Russell on the fourth, fifth, and the first ball of the 19th set to register the first hat-trick of the season. If that wasn't enough, Curran took another, dismissing Daniel Worrall on the 95th ball to end the Spirit innings, complete his five-for, and pocket a 30-run victory for the Invincibles.
WE'VE GOT A HAT-TRICK AT LORD'S 🤩🙌💥
— The Hundred (@thehundred) August 4, 2024
☝️ Matt Critchley
☝️ Liam Dawson
☝️ Andre Russell #TheHundred pic.twitter.com/hnaPdtiQyJ
A record performance
Curran finished with figures of 5-16 off 20 balls, the first five-for of the season. His hat-trick was also only the third ever registered in The Men' Hundred after Imran Tahir's in 2021 and Tymal Mills' in 2023.
Curran's double of a fifty and a five-wicket haul in the same T20 was only the 21st such instance in the history of the format. Interestingly, Curran himself has achieved this feat once before, having done so in a T20 Blast game in 2022. In the process, he became the first player ever to score a fifty and take a five-for in the same T20 game twice.
With this, Curran has also moved up to second on the list of highest wicket-takers in the tournament, with nine scalps from four games at an average of 8.33, just behind the 10 wickets of Adam Zampa.
Oval Invincibles currently sit top of the pile following this victory, with three wins from four games and the best net run rate among all teams.
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