London Spirit into the Final

This post is largely about the Eliminator match in The Hundred (women’s) – the equivalent in the men’s starts in an hour from now. However I inadvertently misstated how the One Day Cup works in yesterday’s post. The ‘quarter-finals’ that took place yesterday were in fact the only such matches, not the first two of four, since the winners of each of the two groups qualify direct for the semi-final, while second in one group play off against third in the other for the right to join them.in the semis. Warwickshire did win the match I covered yesterday, with Kai Smith, who had just completed his hundred by the time I finished that post ending with 130*, almost triple his previous best as a professional cricketer.

THE INVINCIBLES INNINGS

London Spirit won the toss and chose to field first. Apart from Lauren Winfield-Hill (17 off 10) and Laura Harris (16 off 7) no one scored with any freedom at any stage. Alice Capsey took 33 balls to score her 30, and Marizanne Kapp’s 26 came at exactly a run a ball. Tara Norris bowled the first five balls of the match, and yielded only five runs, but was not called on again. Danielle Gibson was expensive, conceding 38 from her 15 balls but also claiming two wickets. It was the other four bowlers who really did the damage: Charlie Dean 3-24 off 20 balls, Eva Gray 2-13 off 20 balls, Sarah Glenn 2-15 off 20 and Deepti Sharma 0-17 off 20. Oval Invincibles were thus restricted to 113-9.

THE SPIRIT CHASE

The only way a total as small as Invincibles had on the board even might be defended was by taking early wickets. 35 were already on the board by the time Meg Lanning was first out, caught by Winfield-Hill off Kapp. Cordelia Griffith, in at number three, went cheaply, stumped by Winfield-Hill off Amanda-Jade Wellington. However Georgia Redmayne is one of the best uncapped players around (she is uncapped simply because as rivals for her position she has Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney, the first named of whom is also Australia’s current captain) and she was now joined by England skipper Heather Knight. There were nine balls as well as eight wickets to spare when Redmayne hit the four that both completed her 50. She had played the anchor role to perfection, and Knight had provided the extra impetus, her 36* coming in just 23 balls. Marizanne Kapp had 1-19 from her 20 balls, Amanda-Jade Wellington 1-21 also from a full allocation. London Spirit will therefore face Welsh Fire in tomorrow’s final.

PHOTOGRAPHS