Fires of Manchester - A Close Look at the Originals' Potent Cricketing Firepower

image-llp7k169Manchester Originals have made a great turn around in the second half of the tournament (Source: Twitter)

The playoffs of the Hundred Men's Competition isn’t far away and one of the best comebacks in the tournament is by none other than Manchester Originals. The side led by Jos Buttler didn’t really have the best starts in the league in the first half where they only won 1, lost 2 and had one unfortunate no result.

The second half of the league stage is where they looked like one of the favourites in the league with 3 wins in a row and are just one more win away from securing that playoff spot. With 4 wins, 2 losses and 1 no result and a healthy NRR of +0.350 from their 7 matches they are currently 2nd on the points table and are looking like one of the strongest teams in the league with explosive batters and a young and spirited bowling attack.


Originals' Middle Order Magic: A Force to be Reckoned With

image-llnyfum8X-axis: Boundaries, Y-axis: Strike rate (Source: OneCricke)

Manchester Originals skipper Jos Buttler has led from the front and been the highest run-scorer in the league but we can’t forget about the middle order that has made most of the difference for the team’s success in the league. Batters like Laurie Evans, Paul Walter, Ashton Turner and all-rounders in Jamie Overton and Usama Mir have made valuable contributions for the Originals even in the crucial moments when the top order was failing. 

The Originals' middle-order has contributed 402 runs in 7 games making them the third highest run scorers of all the middle orders of Hundred Mens this tournament just under table- toppers Oval Invincibles and Trent Rockets. Along with runs their middle order is also scoring at a great strike rate of 160.16 making it the highest strike for the middle-order in the entire tournament. 

This indicates the impact of having big hitters with long levers in what is one of the shortest formats of the game, gave them a great advantage to score a lot of runs in the middle at a good rate. The strike rate also explains the number of boundaries hit by the batters in the middle-order where they have hit 57 boundaries that include 40 fours and 17 sixes and are once again in the top three along with the Rockets and Invincibles, who also have one of the best middle-orders in the tournament as well. 

These numbers prove that the Manchester Originals' batters are not only capable of making big runs but also get those crucial boundaries in the middle-overs that keeps them in the game and puts pressure on the bowlers.


Conclusion

Overall this Manchester Originals team is one of the most unpredictable teams to look out for. They have a deep batting lineup filled with dangerous game changing batters, who can change the course of the game. Their bowling lineup, though inexperienced has shown a lot of promise in the second-half and it will be interesting on what more they have in their arsenal in the upcoming matches. 

With having an energetic, experience and in-form skipper in the form of Jos Buttler and with Philip Salt finally finding some form they will be a dangerous opponent to face for any side.  Especially in this fast paced format where you hardly have any room for errors against players in their squad who can change the game in their favour.