The Hundred: Tom Helm and Kane Richardson bowl Birmingham Phoenix to victory against Oval Invincibles

Tom Helm and Kane Richardson bowled Birmingham Phoenix to victory in their Hundred clash against Oval Invincibles.

Batting first, Birmingham posted 166-6 as Moeen Ali smashed 42 from 25 balls and Liam Livingstone made 45 from 32.

West Indies spinner Sunil Narine, making his final appearance at this year’s tournament, took 2-21 but both Tom and Sam Curran went the distance as the Phoenix hit 13 sixes.

Oval Invincibles boast a star-studded batting line-up but Helm and Richardson both took three wickets in impressive spells to restrict the hosts to 156-8.

Middlesex seamer Helm finished with brilliant figures of 3-11 from 20 balls, while Australia overseas Richardson took 3-22, dismissing Kent’s Jordan Cox and Sam Billings in successive deliveries.

Birmingham Phoenix’s win takes them to third in the Hundred table, level on points with second-placed London Spirit and two points ahead of Oval Invincibles in fifth.

Both teams have two group matches left, with the top-three in the tournament progressing to the knockout stages.

Will Smeed, who became the first player to score a century in the Hundred earlier this month, got Birmingham’s innings off to a flyer as he hit four boundaries from his first 12 balls.

He then fell to Pakistan overseas Mohammad Hasnain and opening partner Miles Hammond was dismissed to the final ball of the powerplay taking the score to 41-2.

England all-rounders Ali and Livingstone put on 69 for the third-wicket, the former holing out for 45 after crashing four sixes into the stands.

Livingstone also departed but not before he finally found his range with four maximums of his own, the score 145-4 with 14 balls remaining.

Australia’s Matthew Wade provided impetus at the back-end of the innings before he became