With The Hundred 2025 underway in the United Kingdom, in match number 10 of the tournament, Birmingham Phoenix registered their maiden win of the season, beating Oval Invincibles by four wickets at the Edgbaston
in Birmingham. Coming into their third game after losing both their opening matches against Trent Rockets and Southern Brave respectively, the Liam Livingstone-led side put up a blistering performance.
While it was their skipper and England all-rounder Liam Livingstone who led the charge, playing an unbeaten 69-run knock off 2 deliveries, along with a well made 51 by opening batter Will Smeed. During his 27-ball stay in the middle, Livingstone smashed 12 boundaries - seven fours and five sixes at a strike rate of 255.56.
Liam Livingstone smashes 26 runs off Rashid Khan’s five balls; gets Phoenix to victory
The 32-year-old, who got to his real power hitting when the Birmingham Phoenix needed 61 from 25 balls with six wickets in hand, unleashed his lethal hitting off Rashid Khan's over. The Afghanistan leg-spinner, who is known to get control of the match in crunch situation, could not help this time around as he was smashed for 26 runs in one of his overs by Livingstone.
Livingstone hit Rashid Khan for three sixes and two fours, yielding 26 runs in five balls of Khan’s over and cutting down the target to just 35 runs needed off 20 balls. Furthermore, this resulted in Rashid Khan conceding 59 runs in his 20 balls - making it the most expensive spell in The Hundred and the most expensive in his entire T20 career. Previously, Rashid Khan had conceded 55 runs in an IPL 2018 match against Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings).
With a four-wicket win, Birmingham Phoenix moved to seventh position in the team-team tournament. While it was their first win of the season, it was Oval Invincibles first defeat of the ongoing edition. The Liam Livingstone-led side will next travel to Headingley in Leeds, where they will take on Northern Superchargers on Friday, August 15.
