Manchester Super Giants 162 for 5 (Seifert 72, Amr 3-29) beat Trent Rockets 158 for 8 (Donald 38, Gregory 32, Duckett 31, Ahmad 3-33) by five wickets.

The result marked the first time that either Manchester team – men’s or women’s – had won a Hundred trophy, and ended the Super Giants franchises’ long wait for silverware, which had spanned seven IPL seasons and four SA20s.

Seifert goes whack

Seifert had never played at Lord’s a month ago but struck 67 off 45 on Super Giants debut in their opening game against London Spirit, and was their match-winner once again nearly a month later. He raced out of the blocks and looked fired up, exchanging words with Mohammad Amir after taking his first over for 14 runs.

He nearly fell on 33 to an extraordinary piece of fielding, hauling Craig Overton out towards midwicket when Finn Allen tumbled over the boundary and parried the ball back to Calvin Harrison, who took the catch one-handed. But it was given as six on review, with TV umpire Martin Saggers determining that Allen’s foot had brushed the advertising toblerone.

Seifert pressed on, trading sixes with Buttler, and pressed on with support from Leus du Plooy after Buttler holed out to long-off off Harrison; his international team-mate Mitchell Santner, the only bowler to keep him quiet, yet curiously only bowled 15 balls. He eventually fell for 72 – the joint-highest score in a Hundred final – when reaching for Amir’s wide yorker.

Super Giants’ stumble

With three needed off the last nine runs, the Super Giants had the game sewn up yet made incredibly hard work of it. Heinrich Klaasen picked out deep midwicket off Amir, who then trapped Michael Bracewell lbw. Dawson twice swung and missed at Ben Sanderson, but just about cleared Aneurin Donald on the rope to seal the win with two balls unused.

Noor breaks through

Noor has had a quiet tournament – he had taken five wickets across eight group games and Friday’s Eliminator – but saved his best for the final. His first ball was belted straight to long-off by Finn Allen, and his fourth ended up in Buttler’s gloves via Duckett’s inside edge and his back pad.

Aneurin Donald, the Rockets’ ultra-attacking No. 3, took Noor on, lap-sweeping his first ball for four and then landing a six-four double when Noor stayed on for consecutive overs. He landed two further blows off Sonny Baker, but was then involved in a mix-up which saw Sam Billings run out by Dawson, scrambling to break the stumps at the bowler’s end.

Noor struck a third blow when Tim David – whose 90-run season was a major letdown after his £350,000 acquisition – edged a googly to Buttler, and when Donald yorked himself for 38 off 19, looking to charge Dawson, the Rockets had lost 5 for 47 in a frantic 32-ball, mid-innings passage of play.

Rockets’ late launch

Gregory played for Manchester last season – when they were still the Originals – but has otherwise been at the Rockets since inception, and captained them to the 2022 title. He led the Rockets’ rebuild with a partnership with Mitchell Santner worth 46 in 25 balls, denting Noor’s figures with consecutive boundaries then hauling three leg-side sixes.

He dragged Tongue’s slower ball to long-on for 32 off 16, but Santner and Overton struck late boundaries to take the Rockets past 150. Sonny Baker took wickets off the final two balls of the innings, but 158 looked a competitive score. It proved just short, as the Super Giants scraped home.