Hundred Men 2026: Manchester Super Giants ride Walter, Klaassen and Tong to defeat Sunrise Leeds and into the final
For the second time in four days, Manchester Super Giants proved too hot to handle with Sunrisers Leeds, sealing a 20-run win in the Eliminator of the Men’s Hundred at The Oval. The Super Giants posted a massive score of 186 to Paul Walter’s 80 and Heinrich Klaassen’s 63, before Josh Tong’s four-man side and a stunning bowling display from Liam Dawson secured their place in Sunday’s final against Trent Rockets.
The Super Giants were asked to bat first but Tim Seifert was unable to recreate his heroics from the previous match, falling for a two-ball duck. But if anything, that and the 30-run Powerplay was a false alarm for the Sunrisers. The Super Giants were slow to take off before Jos Buttler picked up the fence and Walter broke the shackles on his end as well. Buttler remained the main aggressor in the 57-run partnership, before slumping to a slower partnership off Matthew Potts for 33.
But his dismissal brought no relief to the Sunrisers as Heinrich Klaasen raced clear of the blocks and Walter gathered strength at the other end. South was adjudged trailing in the 49th minute but the decision was overturned on review as the ball hit the thigh pad. He hit the next ball over the fence – clearing his own great cow corner area to bring up his fifty.
Nothing the Sunrisers tried to get a nice batting tape worked. Klaassen amassed a 22-ball half-century, getting there with six straight offs from Tom Laws, who went for 48 runs on the day. He failed to get a Nathan Ellis delivery into the gap as he holed out at long on, but a partnership of 114 off 62 deliveries inflicted serious damage on the Sunrisers. Walter continued to target the leg side boundaries, finishing with eight sixes in all. His innings saw an anticlimactic finish though as he bowled a non-existent second run off the last ball before slip and fall, resulting in a run out.
As the standout batsman of the tournament, Mitchell Marsh started with a four and a six off Jos Atkinson, but miscued a Josh Tonge delivery to record his first sub-30 score of the season. The tongue trapped Zak Crawley’s leg as well to leave the Sunrisers in trouble inside the first ten balls. But an 81-run stand between Harry Brook and Ryan Rickleton revived the chase, with the former unleashing his full range of strokes as he greeted Sonny Baker with a 19-run first set. Rickelton was not to be left behind and the Sunrisers managed 92 runs at the halfway point – three more than the Super Giants’ score at the same stage.
Baker got his redemption when Brook failed to connect on a slope and was out LBW. This led to a mini-collapse as Dan Lawrence fell to a stunning catch from Leus du Plooy at deep mid-wicket, which was followed by the dismissal of Matthew Revis as the Sunrisers lost three wickets for nine runs. Liam Patterson-White made 17 off eight deliveries before being tongue-deceived by a slower single for the fourth wicket.
Rickleton reached his fifty and the Sunrisers needed 34 off the last ten balls when Liam Dawson was called into the attack for the first time. It proved to be an inspired move as he pinned three New Yorkers on the trot to put Rickleton off the strike for good before promptly ejecting Braydon Carse. Dawson gave away just 13 points from his ten deliveries to book the Super Giants’ place in the final – their third in the men’s hundred, after the former Manchester Originals side reached the summit in 2022 and 2023.
Summary scores: Manchester Super Giants 186/4 in 100 balls (Paul Walter 80, Heinrich Klaassen 63, Jos Buttler 33; Brydon Carse 1-22) beat Sunrisers Leeds 166/7 in 100 balls (Ryan Rickleton 54*, Harry Brook 49; Josh Tonge 4-26, Sonny Baker 2-39) by 20 runs.
