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Jos Buttler blazed 90 off 50 balls — reaching his half-century in just 31 deliveries — to power Manchester Super Giants to 187 for 5 at Old Trafford before Birmingham Phoenix were dismissed for 100 in 97 balls, as Super Giants cruised to an 87-run victory to go top of The Hundred Men’s Competition 2026 with three wins from three matches.
Old Trafford had barely dried from the rain delay that pushed the start back when Jos Buttler walked to the crease and reminded everyone exactly what Manchester Super Giants are capable of. Ninety runs off 50 balls. Seven fours, five sixes. A half-century in 31 deliveries. By the time Buttler departed, the match was effectively over — the only question being how many Birmingham Phoenix could salvage from a chase that was never going to happen.
Manchester: Manchester Super Giants beat Birmingham Phoenix by 87 runs at Old Trafford on Sunday to go top of The Hundred Men’s Competition 2026 table, completing a dominant double on a day their women’s side were frustrated by rain without a ball bowled. Jos Buttler’s 90 off 50 balls was the centrepiece of a performance that confirmed Super Giants as the competition’s most dangerous batting side — and left Phoenix, who had beaten Trent Rockets just 48 hours earlier in Edgbaston, wondering how the same batting surface could look so different when the opposition’s No. 1 was in this kind of form.
The Rain Delay That Changed Nothing
A wet ground at Old Trafford threatened to disrupt proceedings from the moment the squads arrived at Emirates Old Trafford, but groundstaff worked quickly enough to allow the full 100-ball format to proceed. Phoenix won the toss and chose to field — a decision that looked entirely reasonable before Buttler arrived at the crease and made it look catastrophic.
The mandatory powerplay yielded 39 runs for the loss of one wicket from the first 25 balls — a controlled but purposeful start. The early wicket came in the shape of Aiden Markram, the South African who had been one of Super Giants’ most consistent performers in the opening two matches, dismissed before he could get going. But Buttler had other ideas about how this innings would develop.
At the strategic timeout, Super Giants were 79 for 2 from 50 balls with Buttler on 47 and Heinrich Klaasen on 16 — Buttler already three balls from his half-century, the match already tilting heavily in the home side’s favour.
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Buttler — The Captain’s Masterclass
Buttler reached his half-century off just 31 balls, hitting four fours and three sixes in the process. What followed was even more destructive. The England white-ball captain — playing in his home city in front of an Old Trafford crowd that has watched him demolish attacks for years — was at his imperious best, finding the rope at will and taking the Phoenix bowling apart with the kind of clean striking that has made him one of the format’s all-time greats.
The final 50 balls of the Super Giants innings saw Buttler reach 90 before his dismissal — a knock that contained seven fours and five sixes from 50 deliveries. Klaasen chipped in with a supporting cameo as Super Giants accelerated past 150 and ultimately posted 187 for 5 from their 100 balls — a total that, on a surface that had been under covers not long before the start, felt almost unfair on Phoenix.
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Phoenix Collapse Under Pressure
Chasing 188, Birmingham Phoenix needed the kind of start they had provided against Trent Rockets — rapid, confident and built on the class of Will Smeed and Joe Clarke at the top. They got neither. The Super Giants’ bowlers — Noor Ahmad and Tom Hartley in particular — found something in the Old Trafford surface that the Phoenix batters struggled to handle, and wickets fell with uncomfortable regularity throughout the chase.
Phoenix were dismissed for 100 from 97 balls, three balls short of the full allocation but already well beaten — the 87-run margin one of the largest victories in The Hundred Men’s 2026 so far. Joe Clarke, having scored 297 runs from nine previous Hundred appearances at a strike rate of 163.18, could not translate that form to Old Trafford. Will Smeed, similarly dangerous in other fixtures, found Noor Ahmad’s variations impossible to read. The lower order offered nothing to suggest a revival was possible, and the innings folded long before the final ball was bowled.
Result: Manchester Super Giants Men won by 87 runs
Player of the Match: Jos Buttler (MSG-M) — 90 (50): 7 fours, 5 sixes
Scorecard:
Manchester Super Giants Men 187/5 (100 balls) — Buttler 90 (50), Tom Moores 39 (17); Rehan Ahmed 2/43
Birmingham Phoenix Men 100 all out (97 balls) — Ferreira 23 (25), Clarke (20); Dawson 3/15, Noor Ahmad 2/16
