The Hundred 2026 results: Paul Walter stars as Manchester Super Giants beat Sunrisers Leeds to reach final
Paul Walter was the unlikely star as Manchester Super Giants beat Sunrisers Leeds by 20 runs in the Eliminator to cruise into the men's Hundred final.
Walter's 80 off just 46 balls set up Super Giants' imposing total of 186-4 at The Oval, before England seamer Josh Tongue led the bowling unit with an impressive 4-26 in Sunrisers' chase.
Having been put in to bat, Walter remained unflustered when opening partner Tim Seifert was dismissed from the second ball of the game, ensuring that Sunrisers' momentum was short-lived as he and Jos Buttler added 57 for the second wicket.
Buttler made 33 from 20 before Walter combined with the destructive Heinrich Klaasen and the pair added 114 off just 52 balls, with Walter whacking eight sixes and Klaasen four.
South African Klaasen blitzed a brutal 63 off 26 before he fell to Nathan Ellis.
Sunrisers have boasted one of the most powerful top orders in the tournament but struggled under the pressure of a mammoth run chase and they finished 166-7.
The tournament's leading run-scorer Mitch Marsh fell for 10 before captain Zak Crawley wasted a review when he was plumb lbw for six, which later proved costly as Harry Brook was given out lbw on 49 playing a reverse scoop - but replays showed the impact was outside the line of off stump.
Brook had shown glimpses of his brilliance in his 31-ball knock and was keeping Sunrisers' hopes alive, but his dismissal left them needing 89 off 44 balls and the innings fell away.
Tongue removed both Marsh and Crawley before he combined with Sonny Baker to tear through the middle order, the latter finishing with 2-39, while Sunrisers opener Ryan Rickelton was left stranded on 54 not out.
Super Giants will face Trent Rockets in the final at Lord's on Sunday.
In a game featuring the likes of Buttler, Klaasen, Marsh and Brook, few would have predicted an Essex all-rounder would be taking the headlines.
Walter, 32, was picked up for just £31,000 in the auction earlier this year, a drop in the ocean compared to the £390,000 paid for London Spirit's James Coles.
He also did not even feature in Super Giants' first five games of the campaign before he came in at the top of the order after South Africa's Aiden Markram returned home for personal reasons, and has now finished with 225 in four games, averaging 76 and striking at 181.45.
It is a simple and unproblematic approach, but one that serves him well: 76% of all of his runs in this tournament have been scored on the leg side, and he reached his fifty off just 29 balls before Klaasen's followed off just 22.
Sunrisers' seamers continually bowled into his arc, and with the combined power between him and Klaasen, they had to hide their spinners. Liam Patterson-White's five balls were the only deliveries of spin bowled in the innings, while Super Giants were able to utilise Liam Dawson, Noor Ahmad and Michael Bracewell when their turn came.
Sunrisers needed an explosive start of their own from Marsh, and he started ominously with a six and a four in his first few balls before skying one high into the air for Baker to take a difficult, swirling catch.
Their hopes then lay with Brook, who played some outrageous shots of his own, including an upper-cut over the keeper to get off the mark and a lofted six over extra cover.
Crawley would have been wise to avoid eye contact with England's white-ball skipper knowing he burned the review that would have saved Brook.