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Ryan Rickelton’s 94 not out off 42 balls, Mitchell Marsh’s 76 off 37 and Harry Brook’s 55 off 18 powered Sunrisers Leeds to 241 for 2 — the highest total in The Hundred’s history — as London Spirit were beaten by 37 runs at Headingley in Match 20. The Marsh-Rickelton opening stand of 148 in 65 balls broke the competition record for any wicket, with David Willey’s unbeaten 83 the only highlight in a Spirit reply that was always 37 runs short.
Three batters, 100 balls, 241 runs. Sunrisers Leeds walked off Headingley having posted what will likely stand as the innings of The Hundred Men’s 2026 — a total built by Marsh’s hurricane opening, sustained by Rickelton’s brilliance and finished by Brook in a manner so violent it briefly silenced a home crowd that had been cheering every boundary. London Spirit made 204 in reply. On another evening, that would have been enough to win. On Monday at Headingley, it was 37 short.
Leeds, England: London Spirit chose to field first at Headingley. It is not yet clear what information they were acting on when they made that decision — perhaps the pitch report, perhaps the overhead conditions, perhaps confidence in a bowling attack that had performed creditably across the competition. What they could not have known, when Liam Livingstone won the toss and chose to field, was that Mitchell Marsh was in that particular mood.
He is always that kind of player. The question is only when.
50 off 24: Marsh Sets the Table on Fire
The Sunrisers’ 50 arrived in 26 balls, Extras having contributed four of them and Rickelton having contributed eight. Marsh contributed the other 38. The South African had crept quietly into the competition while the Australian opened with the kind of powerplay assault that makes opposition captains wonder whether they should have fielded at all. Six fours, seven sixes — Marsh reached his fifty from 24 balls and finished with 76 from 37, dismantling Spirit’s opening bowlers with the flat-bat brutality that has defined his Twenty20 career and giving Sunrisers a foundation that no total could reasonably fail to build upon.
At the strategic timeout, Sunrisers were 67 for 0 from 29 balls. Marsh was on 54. Rickelton was on 8. The match was already pointing in one direction.
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The Marsh-Rickelton opening partnership produced 148 runs — a Sunrisers Leeds record for any wicket in T20 cricket, breaking the previous mark of 111 set by the same pair earlier in the season. When Marsh finally departed, Sunrisers were positioned to post a total that the venue’s short square boundaries would help inflate into something genuinely threatening.
Rickelton’s 94* and Brook’s Exhibition
Ryan Rickelton was the Player of the Match, and for good reason. His 94 not out from 42 balls — the highest individual score in the competition this year — was the innings that anchored the total after Marsh’s early fireworks. Where Marsh destroyed, Rickelton accumulated and then accelerated, never quite reaching the century that would have been a landmark but contributing the kind of captain’s knock that defines winning campaigns.
Harry Brook, batting at number three with the match already in a position where he could play freely, produced 55 from 18 balls — five fours, five sixes, a strike rate of 305 — in an exhibition of clean striking that had the Headingley crowd roaring. David Willey, bowling with experience and guile, eventually had Brook caught by Overton for 55, the home favourite receiving a ripple of applause from a crowd that had been watching something genuinely extraordinary.
Dan Lawrence finished the innings unbeaten, helping Sunrisers to 241 for 2 from their 100 balls.
Spirit Chase Bravely, Fall Short by 37
Any hopes Spirit had of staging a fightback were ended almost immediately. Jonny Bairstow — the hometown hero at Headingley — was caught behind by Rickelton off Reece Topley on the very second ball of the chase for a duck. Lhuan-dre Pretorius followed quickly, falling to Topley for 5. Spirit were 56 for 4 inside the 25-ball powerplay, the match already well beyond rescue.
Spirit captain Liam Livingstone counterattacked in the only way he knows how, hammering 34 from 13 balls before Nathan Ellis dismissed him — Ellis finishing with 2 for 42. James Coles was lbw to Ellis for a two-ball duck. The middle order had collapsed so comprehensively that the tail was required to do the repair work.
Dewald Brevis hit 38 from 21 balls to add some respectability, before David Willey — who had earlier taken one of only two wickets to fall in Sunrisers’ innings, alongside Adam Milne — came in and plundered an extraordinary 83 not out from 46 balls, ten fours among them. He added an unbroken 74-run stand with Jamie Overton, who contributed a quickfire 27 from 15 balls. Together they rescued Spirit’s net run rate and gave the scoreline a dignity the rest of the innings had not earned. Spirit finished on 204 for 6 — the joint-fifth highest total in men’s Hundred history — and on any other night it would have been a very good score. On this night, it fell 37 runs short.
Sunrisers won by 37 runs. The result moves them to fourth in The Hundred Men’s table, level on points with third-placed MI London, with three games remaining.
Scores: Sunrisers Leeds Men 241/2 (100 balls) — Ryan Rickelton 94* (42, 8×6), Mitchell Marsh 76 (37, 6×4 7×6), Harry Brook 55 (18, 5×4 5×6); David Willey 1-35, Adam Milne 1-37
London Spirit Men 204/6 (100 balls) — David Willey 83* (46), Dewald Brevis 38 (21), Liam Livingstone 34 (13); Reece Topley 2/30, Nathan Ellis 2-42
Result: Sunrisers Leeds won by 37 runs
Player of the Match: Ryan Rickelton (Sunrisers Leeds) — 94* (42) & 2 catches
Records
- 241/2 — highest total in The Hundred history (men’s), surpassing Oval Invincibles’ 226/4 set in 2025
- Marsh-Rickelton 148-run stand — competition record for any wicket
- Brook’s 50 off 18 balls — joint fastest in Hundred history
- Marsh: 290 runs at 58 in five innings this competition
