On Wednesday, August 9, the teenage pace prodigy from Australia, Spencer Johnson, made his Hundred debut for the Oval Invincibles in London and racked up unbelievable statistics of 3 for 1 from 20 balls.
Johnson shocked a star-studded Manchester Originals batting lineup at the Oval just two days after receiving his first call-up to the international team for Australia’s T20Is against South Africa by bowling 19 dot balls out of a total of 20 deliveries.
The left-arm fast, who continued experimenting with back of the length as well as fuller length deliveries, presented challenges for the opposition openers Jos Buttler alongside Phil Salt. The only run versus the Australian on Wednesday night was Buttler’s single from a Spencer Johnson short delivery that he pulled towards deep square leg.
How did the match pan out?
On his eleventh ball, Johson picked up his maiden wicket with a back-of-the-length delivery. Usman Mir smacked the ball to Will Jacks who completed the catch at deep cover. The South Australian bowler struck both Tom Hartley as well as Joshua Little in a string of ten consecutive deliveries.
Sunil Narine, the premier bowler, added to Spencer Johnson’s incredible performance with a 3-for-12 performance off 20 balls. Laurie Evans, Max Holden, as well as Ashton Turner, were all bowled by the cunning spinner. Two wickets each for Gus Atkinson along with Nathan Sowter in the process eased the job for the hosts. The visitors’ greatest performance was a 21-ball 37 by Jamie Overton as Manchester Originals were bundled out for 92 off 89 balls, suffering a crushing 94-run loss.
Earlier in the match, Heinrich Klaasen continued his stellar form with the bat as he notched up 60 off 27 balls and Jason Roy supported him by scoring fifty runs to help the hosts reach a massive total of 186 for 5. Next up for the Invincibles is an encounter on Friday, August 11 matchup at Headingley against the Northern Superchargers. On August 13, the Manchester Originals will play host to the Superchargers for their upcoming match.
Fans react to Spencer Johnson’s stellar Hundred debut as he conceded 1 run in 20 balls:
Spencer Johnson, one of the dream debut ever…..!!!!
Balls – 20
Dot balls – 19
Runs – 1
Wickets – 3He is likely to make his debut for Australia later this month. pic.twitter.com/OLANaeJfPC
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) August 10, 2023
15 cr loading this auction. I hope he goes to @PunjabKingsIPL
— arjun tendular (@sirklrahulji) August 10, 2023
Spencer Johnson will definitely get an IPL contract
— Reddeath (@imkeerthi98) August 10, 2023
Humare paas aisa fast bowler kyu ni hota koi ?
— Ayaan Kaith (@DograAyaan22) August 10, 2023
Aur hamare left arm pacer Unadkat ?
— ?? ????? (@vintage_hitman) August 10, 2023
The bowling action is quite similar to Doug Bollinger
— Nishant Shende (@niche_ant_89) August 10, 2023
You will see another Australian in IPL
— Sports FEB (@sports_feb) August 10, 2023
He is really very good I follow bbl and when I saw him playing first I was like what a bowler action is very simple and pace is 150kmph another left armer is ready for them while we still unable to grind umran
— Pokemon (@pokemon_ash21) August 10, 2023
Australia always produce good left hand bowler
— Kanak Saini (@KanakSa89133191) August 10, 2023
