Watch: Mitchell Santner takes a diving catch in The Hundred as Northern Superchargers beat Oval Invincibles

Mitchell Santner playing for the Northern Superchargers in The Hundred brought about his best athletic ability on the field on Saturday.

In the 12th match of the tournament played at The Oval in London, he took a brilliant diving catch to send Sam Curran packing. His effort turned out to be a crucial one as the Superchargers won the match by 19 runs.

Oval Invincibles won the toss and opted to bowl first at The Oval. Nicholas Pooran's unbeaten 65 helped the Nothern Superchargers to finish on 145/5. Matthew Short scored 20 opening the batting. Adam Hose (18) and Oliver Robinson (20) came up with crucial contributions lower down the order.

The score turned out to be enough as the Oval Invincibles fell short of the target by 19 runs, The Superchargers bowlers picked wickets at regular intervals not allowing their opponents to run away with the game.

Donovan Ferreira top-scored with 49 for the Invincibles as none of the other batters scored over 20. As many as eight batters scored in single-digits which was the real reason behind them falling short of the target.

The Superchargers kept up the pressure with some tight bowling. Jordan Clark and Matthew Potts took two wickets each. Adil Rashid took two as well. Matthew Short and Mitchell Santner took one each.

Santner's moment of brilliance came on the field when he dismissed Sam Curran with a team score of 59. He was the fourth wicket to fall.

The southpaw went after a tossed-up delivery from Short. It was a decent connection heading over the boundary line. However, the Kiwi all-rounder pulled out a dive at the long-on boundary line to take the brilliant catch.

Watch: Mitchell Santner's Brilliant Effort To Dismiss Sam Curran

MITCHELL SANTNER! 😮🦸#TheHundred pic.twitter.com/SmGSrspAts

— The Hundred (@thehundred) August 2, 2024

Former England skipper Michael Atherton who was commentating on that praised Santner for his efforts and said that he is an underrated cricketer and his all-round abilities are not often praised or spoken about.

Nicholas Pooran was maned the Man of the match. He praised the batting effort of the team and had special praise for the young skipper Harry Brook who is still a rising international cricketer.

"As a batter, when you’re going you want to keep going. We wanted to break that momentum and focus on our execution. He (Brook) is brilliant as a captain, nice to see him get going from the get-go. For me it's about being consistent with my mindset" said Pooran on Brook

"In the past, I've been in similar situations and got out. They bowled well with the new ball. Spencer bowled well. It got better as the innings progressed, so I wanted to construct a partnership. Getting back-to-back wins in a format like this is important. Coming outside our home, coming to the defending champions, and getting the job done feels great," Pooran further said on his performance.

The Hundred is ECB's prominent shorter-format tournament. It is a 100-ball per side game with a different set of rules different from the regular rules present in domestic T20 cricket.

Oval Invincibles are the current champions of the Men's Hundred tournaments. Along with them the Southern Brave and the Trent Rockets have won a title each. The inaugural tournament was held in 2021 and 2024 marks its fourth edition.

Also Read: Watch: Jack Leach takes a stunning diving catch in Somerset's win over Lancashire