Twitter Reactions: Paul Stirling shines as Southern Brave survive Liam Livingstone scare to lift The Hundred title

Southern Brave defeated Birmingham Phoenix by 32 runs in the final to become the inaugural champions of The Hundred Men’s competition. It was indeed a comprehensive victory for the James Vince-led side as they were brilliant in all three departments. Not to forget, the Birmingham-based side also put up an impressive fight. However, a target of 169 proved too much for them in the summit clash.

Earlier in the match, Birmingham Phoenix won the toss and elected to bowl first at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Stadium in London. The decision seemed to be spot on with big guns like Quinton de Kock (7) and James Vince (4) back in the hut cheaply. However, dashing opener Paul Stirling didn’t put his guards down and led Brave’s fight back. While he played sensible cricket, his strike rate was also on the higher side.

Paul Stirling powered Southern Brave to match-winning total

Overall, he scored 61 off 36 balls as Southern Brave were right back in hunt. With Stirling laying the foundation, Ross Whiteley got the license of going for the kill in the death overs. He slammed the likes of Patrick Brown and Imran Tahir all over the park and remained unbeaten at a 19-ball 44. Riding on his brilliance, Southern Brave advanced to 168/5. For Birmingham Phoenix, Kiwi pacer Adam Milne was the pick of the bowlers, scalping two wickets.

Chasing the challenging total, the Moeen Ali-led side got off to the worst possible start. Openers David Bedingham and Will Smeed couldn’t do much and got dismissed inside 14 runs. However, the contest was spiced up by Moeen Ali and in-form Liam Livingstone’s 54-run stand. While the southpaw held one end, Livingstone put up an exhibition of big-hitting.

The dasher cleared boundaries for fun as there was tension in the Southern Brave camp. However, momentum tilted again after Livingstone got run out for a 19-ball 46. Soon, Ali also got out for a 30-ball 36. The likes of Chris Benjamin and Benny Howell tried to take their side over the line but couldn’t keep up with the required run rate.

As a result, the Phoenix were restricted to 136/5 and Southern Brave walked away with the title. While Stirling was named the Player of the match, Livingstone walked away with the Player-of-the series award.

Meanwhile, let’s look at how Twitterati reacted to Southern Brave’s triumph

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