London Spirit and Oval Invincibles tied a last-ball derby thriller in front of
a Lord’s crowd of 17,810 in The Hundred.
An ice-cold Charlie Dean run out as Ryana MacDonald-Gay and Jo Gardner sought a match-winning two from the final ball denied the visitors what had not long before looked set to be a comfortable victory as they chased a target of 114.
Both teams were inspired by exceptional all-round performances from overseas superstars, with South Africa’s Marizanne Kapp starring for Invincibles with 4-11 and a quickfire 47, while India’s Deepti Sharma took 3-18 after top-scoring for Spirit with 44.
Invincibles captain Lauren Winfield-Hill’s decision to bowl first was immediately vindicated when Kapp bowled Australia great Meg Lanning with her fourth ball.
Cordelia Griffith and Georgia Redmayne responded well to take the score up to 30, but Kapp then bowled both batters either side of the powerplay restrictions.
MacDonald-Gay continued the Invincibles’ momentum, bowling Danielle Gibson for two before Kapp struck again with the final ball of her spell, sending back home captain Heather Knight for her fourth clean-bowled dismissal of the innings.
That saw Spirit reduced to 57-5 but Sharma looked to lead a recovery, hitting six fours in her 34-ball innings, and she was ably supported by Dean and Eva Gray to enable the hosts to reach a total of 113-9 despite a flurry of late wickets, including two in two from Sophia Smale.
In response, Spirit had both Invincibles openers out early. Chamari Athapaththu was caught off the bowling of Tara Norris, and Gray had Winfield-Hill stumped thanks to the quick hands of Redmayne, who kept wicket impressively throughout.
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Kapp led the way with an incredible performance for the Invincibles
Kapp then led the Invincibles’ charge, smashing a sweep-heavy 47 from 32 balls and putting on an imposing 55-run partnership with Alice Capsey (31 from 19) before Sharma bowled the latter.
Dean grabbed a stunning catch off the bowling of Sharma soon after to remove Paige Scholfield and the Invincibles’ chase became trickier as the England off-spinner then bowled Mady Villiers before Sarah Glenn smartly ran out Amanda-Jade Wellington, leaving the visitors needing 32 from 32 with four wickets remaining.
Invincibles looked set to get over the line even though Kapp, following an assured partnership with Gardner, was bowled by Sharma with just four runs required from eight.
And that proved to be key with MacDonald-Gay and Gardner just unable to see their side home, Gibson holding her nerve with the ball before Dean found Redmayne with a good throw from the deep to leave MacDonald-Gay well short of her ground looking for the two runs they needed from the final ball.
Player of the match: Marizanne Kapp
“It was good up until I got out, it cost us the game so I’m very disappointed,” she said.
“The plan was to stay in there and take it as deep as possible, we knew they were going to bowl their best bowlers, so I was just trying to knock it around.”
Chargers take spoils in northern derby
Annabel Sutherland just fell short of a half-century for Northern Superchargers
Northern Superchargers took the spoils in the northern derby against Manchester Originals as the home side won their second game on the bounce to give them two wins from their opening four games.
In front of a record Headingley crowd of 11,061, Originals won the toss and chose to put the home side in to bat first. England international fast bowler Lauren Filer was the pick of the bowlers for the visitors as she took 2-16, including two maiden sets.
Hollie Armitage and Phoebe Litchfield put on a 47-run partnership for the second wicket. Australian duo Litchfield and Annabel Sutherland – continuing her fine form from The Kia Oval on Friday – both fell short of half-centuries as they top-scored for Superchargers with 43 off 25 and 44 off 26 respectively to take the hosts to 138-4.
The team in purple had looked set to perhaps pass 150 earlier in the chase, and Originals would have been happy to peg their run-rate back in the back-end of the innings.
In reply, Manchester Originals initially got off to a strong start but went on to lose both openers, Laura Wolvaardt and Beth Mooney, inside the first 30 balls.
Superchargers seamer Kate Cross took the key wicket of Wolvaardt, who was imperious for the Originals in their very similar chase of 136 at Utilita Bowl last week.
Once Wolvaardt and Mooney were back in the pavilion, the away side struggled. They lost regular wickets, thanks to some fine bowling from the Superchargers’ attack, with five different wicket-takers. England international Cross finished with the best figures of 4-20.
Player of the match: Annabel Sutherland
“It was a complete team performance out there. I thought we did a really good job with the bat, we came out hard on a very good wicket and the bowlers got the job done,” said Sutherland.
“It felt like a good wicket, you could hit through the line of the ball and trust your swing. Our bowlers also made it look like there was more in it than there was, so I’m really proud of the group.
“At half-time I thought we might be a little bit under par, just because it was such a good wicket, but we felt it was defendable with how we usually bowl in the powerplay, which we did well again today.”
What’s next?
The Hundred continues with two matches on Monday. Welsh Fire and Southern Brave women get the day started at 3pm followed by the men at 6.30pm, with both matches live on Sky Sports Cricket. Stream The Hundred and more sport with NOW.