Manchester Originals men’s team just narrowly missed out on winning The Hundred this year, falling just 14 runs short of the mark as the Oval Invincibles lifted their first title to become 2023 champions in what was a record-breaking final.
After a thrilling eliminator to secure their spot in the final two on Saturday, with Jos Buttler leading an impressive charge to chase down 197 and beat Southern Brave by seven wickets, it looked as though the momentum was on the Originals’ side. They certainly got off to a good start on Sunday too.
Some impressive fast bowling saw the Invincibles stunted to just 34-5 after 36 balls, with Richard Gleeson finding Jason Roy’s edge, while both Paul Striling and Sam Curran were also caught behind for a duck as the Manchester side took three wickets from just 15 runs.
It was looking like an absolute masterclass at one point.
Not much to see here. Not much at all. Definitely not Manchester Originals taking 3️⃣ VERY early wickets.
However, it was the other Curran brother, Tom, who helped gain the Invincibles a foothold and after paring up with Jimmy Neesham, the duo smacked home an unbeaten 127 from 65 balls, the highest batting partnership ever in men’s Hundred.
The Londoners went on to post 161-5, leaving the Manchester side with more work to do than they might have initially expected after their flying start, putting in a valiant display as they chased down 162.
Having already overcome a stronger tally less than 24 hours earlier, the Originals rightly fancied their chances.
Unfortunately, with captain Buttler going out early, it was up to Phil Salt, Max Holden and Jamie Overton to do their best and try to stay in the game — and they very nearly did.
Ultimately, it was the Currans, Neesham and that incredible tally that gave the local team the lifeline as broke the previous record of 124 set by Dawid Malan and D’Arcy Short for the Trent Rockets in the inaugural Hundred tournament back in 2021.
It was the Originals’ second consecutive defeat in the final following a two-wicket loss to Trent Rockets in 2022 and a club third for Invincibles overall, with the women’s team having won the last two competitions.
The women’s champions came in the form of Southern Brave this year, beating the Northern Superchargers to their first title by a comfortable 34 runs. As for Manchester Originals’ women’s team, they finished seventh on six points, only finishing behind London Spirit on net run rate.
Here’s the moment the Invincibles sealed the men’s title:
Another year, another step closer to that first Hundred title for the Manchester Originals, just not this time around.
Regardless, even with the weather against them throughout his year’s tournament, they never failed to entertain and we’re sure they’ll come back even stronger next year.
It’s been yet another great edition of The Hundred and it’s no surprise to see why this fast-paced format has already taken off in such a short space of time. Until next time.
You can see the full highlights of Oval Invincibles vs Manchester Originals in The Hundred 2023 men’s final down below:
Featured Image — Manchester Originals/The Hundred (via Instagram)
Sport
Pep Guardiola hints at when Manchester City fans can expect to see their latest arrival
Danny Jones
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has given supporters a rough timeline as to when they can expect to see their new signing, or at least their latest arrival, make his first appearance.
The Blues wrapped up the January transfer window with four major signings: their new attacking number seven, Omar Marmoush (who has already bagged a hattrick on his home debut) promising defensive duo, Abdukodir Khusanov and Brazilian Vitor Reis, as well as their ‘mini-Rodri’, Nico Gonzalez.
However, the club has had another late arrival who was technically signed back at the start of last year but who has spent for the last 12 months or so loaned back to his previous parent club, River Plate in Argentina, waiting to make the move over to the Etihad Stadium – and now he’s here in Manchester.
Speaking on his touchdown in 0161, Pep said Claudio Echeverri won’t be thrown into first-team action straight away but did give a rough estimate as to when City fans could expect him to get involved. You can see him discussing the integration plan in his post-match press conference following the Spurs win.
The mention was only brief but there’s still plenty of reason for Man City fans to be excited by the late January signing.
“Yeah, he [Claudio Echeverri] is going to start to train and mainly will be for the end of the season, maybe the [Club] World Cup and as soon as possible [that] he arrives he can adapt quick for the future.”
As mentioned, the 19-year-old Argentinian attacking midfielder from Resistencia officially put pen to paper with CFG back in January 2024 and was quickly dubbed ‘the next Messi’.
Now, although the football world is often quick to jump the gun with these things and he isn’t the first and certainly won’t be last to be slapped with this premature title, he’s done more to back up these claims since then than he has rubbish them.
Starring at the 2025 Under-20 South American Championships, netting six goals in nine games to finish the tournament as the second highest scorer thanks to notable braces against Brazil and Uruguay as the young Argentine’s finished as runners up.
He also notched 48 senior appearances for River Plate thus far, netting four goals and grabbing eight assists in that time, not to mention having already captained his national team at the 2023 Under 17s World Cup, where he scored another five.
Safe to say there’s plenty of talent to be tapped in this lad.
Once again, Echeverri won’t go straight into the senior set-up for a little while yet, barring a major injury crisis, but he’ll be a more than exciting addition to the City Football Academy and for future first-team lineups for years to come.
Who knows, maybe he’ll be included in an FA Cup matchday squad? Nevertheless, you can expect him to not just come of the bench but hopefully show what he can do at the Club World Cup this summer.
City‘s first fixture as reigning champions of the competition will be against Moroccan side Wydad AC on 18 June 2025.
You can watch Echeverri’s first full interview as a Man City player down below:
The new Man City signing is excited to be finally be part of the club 13 months on from agreeing his contract.
‘Nothing is eternal’: Is Pep Guardiola hinting at the end of Manchester City’s supremacy?
Danny Jones
Pep Guardiola looks to have suggested that more than a decade of Manchester City’s supremacy and Premier League dominance at the very least might be coming to an end.
Speaking in his post-match press interviews after City were knocked out of the Champions League by serial European Cup winners Real Madrid, Guardiola cut a somewhat more deflated figure than usual following the 3-1 defeat.
A Kylian Mbappe hattrick which was closed out within an hour of play was enough to stretch the aggregate score to 6-3 over the two legs and Madrid doubling their lead across the tie proved yet again why, not unlike City domestically over the last decade, they’re the kings of the continental competition.
In contrast, however, Pep seemed to accept the loss much more easily than perhaps we’ve seen in the past and rather than appearing familiarly frustrated or defiant in the press conference; instead, he seemed rather reflective, responding to one reporter: “Nothing is eternal”.
🗣️ "Nothing is eternal" – Pep Guardiola.
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Insisting that they have to decide whether a significant rebuild is needed to keep competing at the very top level consistently as they have done since the 54-year-old arrived back in 2016, he argued that it is only with that they’ll be able to determine what comes next.
As for the result itself, he made no bones about Carlo Ancelotti’s side having “deserved it”, stating simply that “the best team won” and that fans and players alike have to “accept the reality: they were better.”
Having been a familiar foe for Pep long before he arrived in Manchester, both at Barcelona and Bayern Munich – not to mention City having faced Los Blancos a dozen times before Tuesday night since 2012 – there have been less surprising outcomes for supporters to come to terms with.
“With time, the club and everyone is going to accept what it is but for now we have 30/40 games for the Premier League next season to try and be here [in the Champions League] and to improve. Nothing is eternal”, said the Catalan coaching genius.
On the other hand, he also went on to add that it was merely a reflection on the night itself and not what his team have achieved in recent years.
He went on to remark that “when we were playing outstanding it hurt more” to be knocked out of the UCL when he felt they deserved to stay in it, but still insisted: “We have been unbelievable and we have to try step by step to get better from today.” Tonight just wasn’t the night.
Who knows? Perhaps it was just some more melodrama from a manager with an undeniable flare for pageantry and playing into/in the face of narratives when he doesn’t come out on top – which hasn’t happened all that often until their dip in form this season.
Plus, there’s certainly still plenty for him and the fans to be positive about; not only has the arrival of their ‘Egyptian Prince’ and the media’s Mo Salah successor, Omar Marmoush, got plenty of people excited – especially after that first-half hattrick against Newcastle – but so too have the other January signings.
In fact, for all of his downplaying in this particular presser (which you can hear in full HERE), it felt like there were only upsides after their victory over Newcastle, even going so far as to dub new signing Nico Gonzalez a ‘mini-Rodri‘.
You can watch the highlights from the game down below:
Pep is right, nothing is eternal – but sometimes you just come up against talents like Mbappe and there’s very little anyone can do about it.
Danny Jones -
28th August 2023 
