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MI London Men edged Southern Brave Men by three wickets off the final ball in a gripping Match 9 of The Hundred Men’s 2026 at Southampton. Will Jacks’ composed 54 steadied the chase, before Ollie Pope sliced the winning runs through backward point to leave the hosts winless after three games.
A gripping night at the Utilita Bowl ended with Ollie Pope slicing Nikhil Chaudhary through backward point off the very last ball for two, MI London completing a three-wicket victory that kept Southern Brave winless after three games and left the home side to wonder — again — how they have nothing to show for so much fight. Will Jacks’ measured 54 laid the foundation; Pope’s composure in a stricken middle order finished the job.
Southampton, England: The Rose Bowl had already delivered one one-run thriller before the men came out under lights. By the time Ollie Pope clipped the final delivery of a match played on a difficult surface into the gap at backward point to drag MI London over the line, the 7,339-strong crowd had been treated to two finishes in one evening that would have tested the heart of any cricket lover. This was not a game for the faint-spirited.
Southern Brave chose not to bat first. MI London won the toss and sent the hosts in, believing the pitch had something under lights — and their bowlers, Trent Boult and Sam Curran in particular, would make the most of it. They were right. Mostly.
Jamie Smith Does Everything But Win It
Ben McKinney was gone in the first over, Boult extracting movement to induce the edge and Jamie Smith’s gloves completing the work behind the stumps on the other end. Five for one. The Brave were in trouble before they had drawn breath.
What followed was one man’s refusal to let a difficult surface dictate terms. Jamie Smith, the Surrey and England wicketkeeper who has made the white-ball arena his own this summer, counter-attacked with the authority of someone who has been in this position before. He cleared the ropes twice, found the boundary six times, and constructed an innings of 49 from just 26 balls that gave the Brave a platform their lower order would ultimately be unable to build upon.
Marcus Stoinis came and went for 9, Sam Curran wrapping him up with a well-directed ball that hurried onto the top-edge and looped comfortably to Sherfane Rutherford on the circle. The partnership of 46 that Stoinis and Smith had put together evaporated, and when Smith himself was caught at long-on by Jacks off Gleeson’s slower ball for 49 — one agonising run short of a fifty, the dismissal coming at 82 for 3 — the innings visibly deflated.
David Miller’s pull to Rashid Khan in the deep brought another boundary-length heave to nothing. Tristan Stubbs, 38 from 31 on this occasion, threatened to rebuild before Gleeson caught him in the deep midwicket to claim his second wicket. The lower order swung and missed, holed out, and ran itself into confusion — Luke Wood and Jofra Archer finishing at the same end off the penultimate ball of the innings as Wood turned back from a potential bye. Brave finished 129 for 9. Stoinis’ 3 for 17 with the ball was the standout bowling return; Boult’s 2 for 15 and Curran’s 2 for 22 the damage done up top.
One hundred and thirty to win. One hundred balls to get them.
Stoinis’ Three-For Puts the Fear In
Marcus Stoinis had given little with the bat. He made amends with the ball, dramatically and immediately. Will Jacks and James Vince had taken MI London to 17 without loss when Stoinis struck in back-to-back deliveries — Vince caught for nought, and then Nicholas Pooran walking off the very next ball for nought — twin blows that sent the MI London dugout pin-drop quiet. Seventeen for two had become seventeen for two, but now the scoreboard’s calm belied the chaos it had produced.
Sam Curran, the MI London captain, steadied with Jacks through the middle phase. The pair added 65 before Stoinis returned to claim his third wicket, Curran lbw at 82 for 3. Stoinis had set up a finish that would give MI London no margin for error.
Jacks Builds It; Pope Closes It
Will Jacks had come into this game having struggled to make starts in The Hundred thus far. He played differently on Monday evening. He assessed the surface, took his time in the powerplay, and expanded his range only when he had read the conditions completely. His 54 from 41 balls was composed rather than explosive, measured rather than muscular — but on a pitch where boundaries were hard to come by and rhythm harder still to find, it was exactly what MI London needed.
When he holed out for 54 at 93 for 4, the chase entered its most anxious phase. Sherfane Rutherford added 22 before perishing. Tom Curran fell. Rashid Khan was run out in the penultimate over, Jamie Smith and Jofra Archer combining for the dismissal. Three needed off the final set of five balls with Trent Boult at the crease and Ollie Pope at the other end.
Pope had been almost invisible until that moment — making runs in singles and twos, keeping the chase mathematically alive, declining to take risks that a better batting surface might have invited. Now, with everything on the line, he needed a boundary or something close to it off the last few deliveries. Boult scrambled a one. Then a dot. Then another run. A final dot. Then came the last ball.
Pope sliced Nikhil Chaudhary’s off-break through backward point. Two runs. They briefly considered a third but turned back. They didn’t need it. MI London had won by three wickets off the final ball of the match.
“A very tight one at the end there,” Jacks said, awarded the Meerkat Match Hero for his half-century. “Very relieved to get over the line. It was a hard-fought game on a tricky surface. We’d spoken about the new ball in The Hundred sometimes being the hardest time to bat. I’ve got out quite early in the last few games, so it was about assessing the conditions and digging in a bit deeper.”
Brave’s Winless Run Extends — But the Fight Is There
For Southern Brave Men, the loss was their third in three games to open the 2026 Hundred campaign. They had gone down by five runs to Sunrisers Leeds at Headingley, and now again here — by three wickets off the last ball — to MI London. Twice they have come within touching distance of a win and twice they have been denied by the smallest of margins. The talent in their squad is not in question; the luck has simply not arrived.
For MI London, third in the table after three games with two wins, the win was a statement of resilience. They had been reduced to 17 for 2 in back-to-back deliveries and still found a way through. Sam Curran’s side have the temperament, as his bowlers showed by restricting Brave to 129 and as Jacks and Pope showed in getting them home.
What this evening at Southampton confirmed, alongside the women’s one-run result that preceded it, is that The Hundred in 2026 has everything it promised: contested surfaces, finishes that go to the wire, and a crowd that knows it’s watching something worth watching.
Scores: Southern Brave Men 129/9 (100 balls) — Jamie Smith 49 (26), Tristan Stubbs 38 (31); Trent Boult 2-15, Sam Curran 2-22 MI London Men 130/7 (100 balls) — Will Jacks 54 (41), Sam Curran 30 (29); Marcus Stoinis 3-17, Nikhil Chaudhary 1-21
Result: MI London Men won by 3 wickets (off the last ball)
Player of the Match: Will Jacks (MI London Men) — 54 (41)
The Hundred Men’s 2026 standings (after Match 9): MI London — 3rd
