Mitchell Marsh’s explosive 26-ball 63, Zak Crawley’s unbeaten 56 off 34 and a 17-ball 42 not out from Harry Brook powered Sunrisers Leeds to an eight-wicket win over Manchester Super Giants as they chased down 181 with 12 balls to spare, handing the Table Toppers their first defeat. Marsh shared a 92-run stand in just 39 balls for the second wicket with Zak Crawley before the skipper put on a sustained 68-run stand off 30 balls with Brook as the Sunrisers recorded their second successive win.
The Sunrisers started the chase needing a third highest successful chase in the men’s hundred. It was a relatively uneventful Powerplay for the home side as they managed to put on 34 and lose the wicket to Ryan Rickleton while Marsh had yet to start. The Australian T20I captain unleashed the final over, hitting a flurry of sixes as he raced to a 20-ball fifty, amassing a total of five sixes alongside six fours in his 26-ball knock.
Crawley, with 11 off 12, took the lead with two successive sixes off Liam Dawson before hitting a hat-trick from four balls in Noor Ahmed’s five-ball set, as the duo reduced the equation to 66 off 45. Marsh’s outing ended when Sonny Baker delivered an effective yorker but there was more carnage to follow with the arrival of Brook.
Brook started with a six off Josh Tongue before scoring a maximum of three off Dawson to take Sunrisers to 150 in 70 balls. Crawley then hit a six and a four from Baker for a 29-ball fifty, and Brook finalized the chase with sixes from Jos Atkinson and Noor, finishing with six sixes and not one four, as the Sunrisers completed a commanding chase.
Earlier, after being asked to bat, the Super Giants started steadily with strong contributions from Tim Seifert (28 off 16) and Aiden Markram (32 off 23). After dismissing the openers, Jos Buttler and Heinrich Klaasen combined to put on 105 runs in just 47 balls to make up a solid total for the Super Giants.
Buttler hit five fours and four sixes in his 33-ball stay for his unbeaten 63, after bringing up his 10th fifty in 28 balls. Klaasen took his fifty off 26 balls after hitting two sixes off Nathan Ellis, with the last 10 balls of the innings yielding 26 runs, as the Super Giants finished well, only for the power-packed Sunrisers to make light work of the chase.
Abbreviated degrees: Manchester Super Giants 181/3 in 100 balls (Jos Buttler 63* off 33, Heinrich Klaassen 53* off 27; Nathan Ellis 2-32) lost to Sunrisers Leeds 186/2 in 88 balls (Mitchell Marsh 63* off 26, Zak Crawley 56* off 34, Harry Brook 42* off 17; Sonny Baker 1-30) With 8 wickets.
