The Oval Invincibles won both their games in The Hundred after beating Welsh Fire by 10 points in an exciting game in Cardiff.
Despite posting a score of 113-9, the Invincibles' excellent bowling unit ran wild and the home team never showed any signs of chasing their modest target.
Leg-spinners Nathan Sauter (2-12) and Adam Zampa (3-24) were the star players for the defending champions, with Zampa picking up his second Meerkat Match Hero award in two games.
When Wales Fire captain Tom Abel gave the order to bat, the Invincibles lost David Malan almost immediately when David Willey was bowled out to midwicket.
Will Jacks and Tawanda Muyeye provided solid performances on the powerplay, but Wales Fire's talented seam attack held their own.
Jacks was defeated by Josh Little, who found Mason Crane's hands on the long square-leg boundary (25 off 15), while Jake Ball and Willie removed Sam Billings and Muyeye respectively, leaving the Invincibles struggling to trail 58-4 at the halfway point.
Oval Invincibles' Sam Billings celebrates Luke Wells' wicket.
Donovan Pereira (30) and Sam Curran (20) put up some resistance to the Fire's onslaught, but the Invincibles never really got going, with wickets continuing to fall at regular intervals and the bowler's pick finishing with figures of 3-24.
Defending 113 was always going to be a tough task for the Invincibles, and it was made all the more so when Jonny Bairstow was dropped for four by Harrison Ward off the bowling of Saqib Mahmood. Fortunately for Ward, Australia's Spencer Johnson cleared him a few balls later.
After Curran bowled Joe Clarke with the first ball of the order, the Invincible spinners came to the forefront. Zampa continued his fine form for the Invincibles, taking the wickets of Abel, Tom Kohler-Cadmore (22 off 33) and Willie, while Soter removed Glenn Phillips and Luke Wells.
Powerful hitting from David Payne (28 off 15 balls) and Mason Crane kept the game close to the last few balls, but Curran held his composure to secure the win.
Man of the Match – Adam Zampa
“It was important to start well. We needed some early wickets to get the momentum going into the middle overs and the way Spencer (Johnson) and Sakhi (Mahmood) bowled was brilliant. It was really exciting to watch in the middle off.
“Me and South have to play different roles all the time, and as my run rate goes up, I can focus on my job by bowling more to the back end.”
“There wasn't much pace on the wicket and if you gave it a little bit of spin, it would be a little bit. It was difficult to score runs throughout the game.”
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The Hundred will return in 2024, with all matches being shown live on Sky Sports from July 23 to August 18.
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The Hundred continues on Monday. Manchester Original face Trent Rocket At Old Trafford.
The women's match (broadcast at 2.55pm, first game at 3pm) will be shown live on Sky Sports Mix and can be streamed live for free on skysports.com, the Sky Sports app and the Sky Sports Cricket YouTube channel.
The men's match kicks off at 6.30pm, with build-up starting at 6pm on Sky Sports Mix. It will also be shown on Sky Sports Cricket from around 6.30pm.
Sky Sports will show all 68 matches of The Hundred live, with selected matches also available to stream for free on Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Cricket YouTube channel.
