Marcus Stoinis took two-in-two in the powerplay, removing ex-Brave captain James Vince caught in the deep by Tristan Stubbs before having Nicholas Pooran caught behind first ball as MI London’s pursuit of Brave’s 129 started shakily.
Jacks and Sam Curran took the equation down to 76 required from the final 50 balls. Curran was then bowled by Adil Rashid for 30 before Stoinis returned to take the big wicket of Jacks leaving 37 required from 21; the Aussie all-rounder finishing with 3-17.
Sherfane Rutherford cleared the ropes twice off Chris Jordan to pull the momentum back in MI London’s favour before Jordan exacted his revenge by running him out with a direct-hit.
Tom Curran was bowled by Chaudhary to leave the equation at eight needed from seven balls, and Rashid Khan was then run out to bring Trent Boult to the crease with three required from three.
The following ball was a dot, drilled back at Chaudhary who failed to cling onto a tough caught-and-bowled, resulting in a lengthy delay as he required treatment from the physio. Next ball Boult swiped a single through midwicket, leaving Pope on strike to hit the winning runs.
Pope’s winning runs brought an end to a tense and scrappy affair, much like the women’s game earlier neither side were able to find the boundary with regularity. Jamie Smith had earlier top-scored for Brave, the home side ultimately scrambling to a total of 129-9 which the visitors needed every one of their 100-ball allocation to overhaul.
Meerkat Match Hero, Jacks, said: “A very tight one at the end there. 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.”
