Carse and Potts take three each, and Birmingham Phoenix are out of the Hundred
Sunrisers Leeds won by 45 runs at Edgbaston to end Birmingham Phoenix’s season with two games still to play. Ryan Rickelton’s 65 was the innings of the night.
Aug 8, 2026
Birmingham Phoenix needed to beat Sunrisers Leeds at Edgbaston on Friday night to keep their Hundred alive. They were 23 for 3 inside 22 balls, and it was over long before Sunrisers finished the job by 45 runs.
Rickelton kept going where the rest did not
Donovan Ferreira put Sunrisers in, and Mitchell Marsh and Ryan Rickelton had 50 up in 30 balls. Marsh hit five fours in a 23-ball 34 before Usman Tariq bowled him, and Usman had Harry Brook lbw for 19 soon after, which should have been the turn.
It was not, because Rickelton stayed. The Mumbai Indians opener, who spent this year’s IPL at the top of the order with Rohit Sharma, reached fifty off 27 balls and was still there at 154 for 6 before a Joe Clarke throw ran him out for 65 from 37. Six fours, three sixes, and the innings that decided the match.
Sunrisers wobbled around him. Zak Crawley made 3, Dan Lawrence 14, Matthew Revis six off two balls before he was run out as well. Liam Patterson-White and Matthew Potts got them to 169 for 7 with a six each at the death. Usman Tariq’s 2 for 28 off 20 balls was the best of the Phoenix attack, and Jordan Thompson went for 38.
27 for 3 in the powerplay, and no way back
Brydon Carse had Mitchell Owen caught on the 10th ball of the chase, Potts had Will Smeed caught behind, and Carse had Rehan Ahmed caught for a two-ball duck. Phoenix were 27 for 3 when the powerplay ran out with 170 to get.
Joe Clarke and Sean Dickson pushed the score to 67 before Abrar Ahmed had Clarke caught for 25. Ferreira was bowled by Carse for 3. Dickson batted on for 34 off 27 and Thompson finished unbeaten on 25, which was respectable and irrelevant. Phoenix ended on 124 for 8, and a Sunrisers over-rate penalty with eight balls left, which put an extra fielder inside the circle, changed nothing at all.
Carse finished with 3 for 17 off his 20 balls, 13 of them dots. Potts took 3 for 22. Rickelton took the player of the match award.
Phoenix join London Spirit on the way out
Phoenix have one win from six now, sit bottom of the eight-team table on four points, and have a net run rate of minus 1.451. With two games left they can finish on 12. Three teams are already on 16, and only the top three go through, so the arithmetic has run out on them. London Spirit, level on points, went out before Friday.
That one win came against Trent Rockets on 24 July, in the fourth match of the competition. Rockets have since won five in a row and lead the table on 20 points.
Sunrisers move second on 16, four points behind Rockets and ahead of MI London and Welsh Fire on net run rate, with Welsh Fire up next on Sunday. Their women’s side won the other half of the Edgbaston double-header, restricting Phoenix to 107 for 9 and knocking off the runs in 69 balls for the loss of one wicket.