In this world nothing can be certain, except death, taxes, and Oval Invincibles winning the men’s Hundred. They topped the group stage to qualify directly for the Lord’s final for three consecutive seasons, and each night has ended with Sam Billings lifting the golden ‘H’ trophy. After two tight finals, this was a demolition job.

The Invincibles have relied on continuity as their greatest strength, and three of their usual suspects performed when it mattered: Wild Jacks and Jordan Cox added 87 off 55 balls to underpin their total of 168, and the livewire Nathan Sowter derailed the chase with three wickets in his first seven balls. All three have been with them since inception; so too Billings and coach Tom Moody.

They joined a select handful of teams to pull off a ‘three peat’ in short form leagues, and achieved it without breaking a sweat. If they have not quite lived up to their moniker, then Invincibles’ record across the last three seasons is still remarkable: 21 wins, one tie and only five defeats. In a format designed for unpredictability, they have become a winning machine.

In fact, the Invincibles may have been too successful for their own good. The ECB are linning up a squad reset next year – in the style of the IPL’s mega-auction – as new investors arrive in the Hundred. It is designed to uphold the ‘any given Sunday’ philosophy at short-form cricket’s core; on any given Sunday in the men’s Hundred, however, the Invincibles are usually winning.

The Invincibles’ core is built around England players with international experience, with a single exception. Sowter, a journeyman legspinner, wondered if his professional career was over when Middlesex released him three years ago but has become an unlikely linchpin in the Invincibles attack, and saved his best performance of the season for the biggest stage.

The Rockets were 35 for 0 after 30 balls when Sowter came into the attack, with Tom Banton and Joe Root struggling for fluency. Ten balls later, they were 38 for 3: Root holed out to long-on, Rehan Ahmed missed a straight one to depart for second-ball duck, and Banton picked out long-off. Sowter celebrated each wicket with a huge roar, and added an excellent catch at deep backward square leg to his night’s work.

Adam Zampa had flown in from Australia specifically for the final – a 20,000-mile round-trip for 20 balls – and finished with typically frugal figures of 1 for 21. But despite the wicket of David Willey, brilliantly stumped by Billings, he was ultimately upstaged by his legspin partner.

Jacks made a statement off the very first ball of the final, crunching Willey through mid-off for four, then slashed the third through the off-side ring to become the first man to score 1,000 runs for the Invincibles. His opening partner Tawanda Muyeye fell after three early boundaries, but his dismissal brought in the tournament’s leading run-scorer in Cox at No. 3.

Cox has been in stunning form this month and was soon up and running with two rasping cuts. Jacks had a life on 28, plinking a full toss to midwicket which was deemed a no-ball on height, and was quick to make use of it, reverse-sweeping Rehan for four before launching him into the upper tier of the Grandstand.

Cox belted Rehan for six more before toe-ending him behind, but Jacks sensed his chance to put his foot down. He eventually fell for 72 off 41 after another flurry of boundaries and while the Invincibles were uncharacteristically quiet at the death, adding 25 off the last 20, that only served to underline the quality of Jacks and Cox’s strokeplay.

Is there a plague on the city of Nottingham? Andy Flower’s side have had no luck with injuries. With Adam Hose, Tom Alsop and Max Holden already out, they lost two seamers in the 24 hours before the final: first Sam Cook, who broke a thumb when Dan Lawrence smacked one back at him in the Eliminator; then Lockie Ferguson, whose hamstring went in the warm-ups.

Dillon Pennington was called upon to make his debut at 20 minutes’ notice and he struck with his first ball, smiling wryly as Muyeye edged a short, wide one behind. His figures of 1 for 23 from 20 were the Rockets’ best, but their bad luck was not over: George Linde could not complete his allocation after damaging a digit while attempting a return catch off Cox.

Marcus Stoinis did his best to keep the chase alive, belting five sixes in his innings of 64 off 38 balls, but the asking rate soared out of the Rockets’ control. They nominally needed 27 to win off the final ball, and Invincibles got their celebratory moment when Saqib Mahmood trapped him lbw to clinch their third straight title.

Brief scores:
Oval Invincibles [Men] 168 for 5 in 100 balls (Will Jacks 72, Twanda Muyeye 15, Jordan Cox 40, Sam Curran 15, Donovan Fereira 12*; Marcus Stoinis 2-40, Dillon Penningron 1-23, Rehan Ahmed-28) beat Trent Rockets [Men] 142 for 8  in 100 balls (Tom Banton 23, Joe Root 10, David Willey 14, Marcus Stoinis 64, Ross Whitley 14; Saqib Mahmood 1-10, Tom Curran 1-34, Adam Zampa 1-21, Nathan Sowter 3-25) by 26 runs

[Cricinfo]