David Warner made his first half-century in The Hundred to see London Spirit take the spoils against Welsh Fire in Cardiff, despite a thrilling 86 from Jonny Bairstow in response.

Bairstow sat back and absorbed the blows as his Fire team fell to 55-6 at the halfway point of their reply to Spirit’s 163, before launching a high-octane counter-attack that took Fire so close to a famous victory.

Bairstow’s 50-ball innings contained six sixes, and saw 70 runs plundered from balls 65 to 95, leaving 17 required off the last five of the innings.

Warner’s innings was a different affair, but was equally effective in driving the visitors to a formidable total – the Australian legend using his experience and nous to hit 70 runs and work out a defendable total on a track that had something for the bowlers.

With the ball, before the Bairstow show, Liam Dawson (1-25) and Richard Gleeson (1-25) were both extremely effective and though they may briefly have feared that their hard work would be undone it was runs on the board that emerged victorious in the end, as Fire fell eight runs short ensuring Spirit’s star batter Kane Williamson (14 off 14) and Australian coach Justin Langer got up and running.

Jacks and Muyeye combine for Oval Invincibles domination

Will Jacks and Tawanda Muyeye combined to lead Oval Invincibles to a nine-wicket victory over Manchester Originals in The Hundred. The opening pair contributed 120 of the 129 runs needed to complete the chase set by their opponents, Jacks hitting a monster 61 off 26 and Muyeye 59 off 28.

It makes it back-to-back victories for the Invincibles after their opening-round win against London Spirit.

It remarkably took just 57 balls for the home outfit to complete their chase, Lewis Gregory bringing an end to the 144-run partnership between the opening pair, leaving Muyeye to combine with Jordan Cox (seven off three) to see out the chase and pick up the last 15 runs required.

The Invincibles had pummelled Manchester Originals for just 128, Rashid Khan (3-19) and Saqib Mahmood (2-26) doing the damage.

Winning the toss for the second time on the day, Invincibles opted to bowl first and immediately justified the decision. Jason Behrendorff (2-6) struck twice in his opening spell, removing Matty Hurst for a first-ball duck and Jos Buttler without scoring, reducing the Originals to 18-2, 15 balls in.

The early wickets forced Originals captain, Phil Salt, to anchor the innings, passing 1,000 runs in The Hundred in the process.

Salt battled to 41 from 32 but succumbed to mounting pressure, becoming Rashid’s second victim.

Sam Curran (2-17) then returned to the crease dismissing Noor Ahmad first ball, as the Originals limped to 105-7. Despite a last-minute push from Scott Currie (21), the visitors could only post 128.

It marks a second defeat for Originals, leaving them winless.

How do matches work?

• One hundred balls a side, the team with the most runs wins. It is as simple as that.
• Five bowlers can bowl up to 20 balls in an innings, including five or 10 in a row.
• The traditional six-ball overs seen in other forms of cricket are not used in The Hundred, with 10 balls bowled before a change of ends.
• The powerplay is for the first 25 balls of an innings, with only two fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle.
• A 25-ball-a-side game is the minimum length that can be played in the event of wet weather.
• If a match in the knockout stages is tied, a Super 5 will be played, with the winner being the team scoring the most runs from a further five balls each.

Watch every match across the women’s and men’s competitions live on Sky Sports from August 5-31.