London Spirit vs Oval Invincibles at Lord’s on 27 August (15h30)
The ninteenth women’s match of ‘The Hundred’ tournament was billed by commentators as a ’London Derby clash,’ between Invincibles whom commentators said were ‘stronger on paper’; and Spirit who’d struggled without England skipper Heather Knight. Invincibles hit the stumps ‘on a regular basis’ with Mady Villiers bagging a 4-fer. Only three players have taken four wickets (4-fers) in a single match (to date). Villiers(4/12) ranks second in the single-match bowling leader-board. Lauren Bell is top (4/10); and Australia’s Alana King is third (4/14.) Receiving POTM ‘match hero’ from presenter Ravi Shastri, Mady Villiers bowled 20 balls for 12 runs and took 4 wickets. Villiers said she’d never bowled ten-in-a-row ‘so well’; and (playing conditions were suitable for) a ‘bit of turn’ and ‘change of pace.’ Between innings, Invincibles skipper Dane vanNiekerk (South Africa) told Charles Dagnall that ‘batting is something we do to win.’ Match was broadcast via SKY Sports YouTube channel – please see below – with Zainab Abbas, with Charles Dagnall, Ravi Shastri (India), and Daren Sammy (WIndies) and guest England’s Tammy Beaumont. Also ESPN-cric-info (Ekanth and Sruthi); BBC ’No Balls’ co-hosted by Alex Hartley and other social media. Weather at Lords was bright and sunny: 18-24C
Spirit Innings
Skipper Charlie Dean – unchanged team. *Spirit lost their first three wickets with only 11 runs on the board. *Disaster struck third-ball when Danielle Gibson 0(2) was caught from a top-edge at ‘mid-off’ by Suzie Bates (NZ) for a second-ball duck, from Mady Villiers. *Continuing with a second ‘set-of-five,’ (Australian Commonwealth Games Star) Beth Mooney 3(5) was caught by Alice Capsey at ‘cover.’ *Commentators said that was a ‘double blow,’ with four runs on the board. *Bowling change saw Sophie Luff 1(3) snicked the thinnest of edges (from ‘ultra-edge’) and was caught behind by keeper Lauren Winfield-Hill, from South African Shabnim Ismail’s first ball. *Amelia Kerr (NZ) struck the only ‘four’ during Spirit’s power play (score 15/3.) *Kerr and skipper Charlie Dean added 27 runs until Winfield-Hill stumped skipper Dean. *Charlie Dean 18(20) became stranded coming down-the-wicket to Alice Capsey. *By mid-way, Spirit were 37/4. *Naomi Dattani was given a life when dropped by Kira Chathli, from Eva Gray with 50 runs posted on the scoreboard. *Mady Villiers returned for her second set-of-ten, clean-bowling Dattani 5(10) with her fourth ball, clipping the top of middle-stump *Three balls later Villiers also bowled Grace Scrivens 4(13) knocking back her leg-stump with a yorker. *As mentioned above, Villiers bowled 20 balls for 12 runs and took 4 wickets, earning her POTM. *Fresh bowlers took two more quick wickets. Alice Monaghan 3(4) was ‘run-out’ by Shabnim Ismail’s fast reflex throw from ‘long-on’ to the bowler’s end where Sophia Smale ‘brilliantly’ broke the wicket at non-striker’s end, upon TV Umpire’s review. *Four balls later, top-scorer Amelia Kerr 31(31) was judged ‘leg before’ on the knee-roll, to Eva Gray. *Freya Davies 5(8) hit Shabnim Ismail (2/20) through deep-mid-wicket for ‘four,’ but two balls later was clean-bowled by Ismail. *Finally, Australia’s Megan Schutt 3(7) was clean-bowled by Eva Gray (2/10) with three balls remaining.
Invincibles Innings
Skipper Dane van Niekerk. Suzie Bates (NZ) playing for Marizanne Kapp (South Africa.) After 25 balls power play, Invincibles were 45/0 (vs 15/3) Suzie Bates 31(20) hit four ‘fours’ and the only ‘six’ of the entire match. Bates was the only wicket to fall, until caught behind by keeper Beth Mooney, from teenager Grace Scrivens (1/23.) Charlie Dean bowled a tight set-of-ten balls for six ‘singles,’ before mid-way. After 50 balls Invincibles needed 18 runs to win 63/1 (vs 37/4.) Eight balls later, Lauren Winfield-Hill 44*(28) struck 4 more ‘fours,’ including the final ‘four’ (from her tally of 7 ‘fours’) to win the match.
Summary Spirit were unable to stage any kind of come-back as Invincibles made light work of their run-chase, losing ‘just the one wicket.’ London Spirit were motivated to ‘get a big win’ but became deflated after chalking-up the third-lowest total score in the tournament’s short history: 80/10. Commentators were right to say that Invincibles were ‘stronger on paper’ as this proved to be the case when they hit the stumps ‘on a regular basis.’ POTM Mady Villiers took four of Spirit’s first six wickets. Amelia Kerr and Charlie Dean ‘tried to rebuild’ the innings without any support from tail-enders who departed ‘in a procession’ for single figures. Invincibles go forward to the play-offs, aiming to defend their inauguaral title with back-to-back wins.
Result: Oval Invincibles Women 82/1 beat London Spirit Women 80/10 by 9 wickets (with 42 balls remaining)
Spirit batting 80/10 (from 97/100 balls @0.82 runs-per-over) Amelia Kerr 31(31), Charlie Dean 18(20); Invincibles bowling: Mady Villiers 4/12, Eva Gray 2/10, Shabnim Ismail 2/20, Alice Capsey 1/17; Fow 1-1, 2-4, 3-4, 4-31, 5-53, 6-57, 7-67, 8-69, 9-79, 10-80; Invincibles batting 82/1 (from 58 balls @1.41 runs-per-over; target 81 runs from 100 balls) Lauren Winfield-Hill 44*(28); Suzie Bates 31(19), Spirit bowling: Grace Ballinger 1/23; Fow 1-55.
Scorecard & Statistics at URL: https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/the-hundred-women-s-competition-2022-1299144/london-spirit-women-vs-oval-invincibles-women-19th-match-1299163/full-scorecard
Match highlights free-to-air from SKY Sports YouTube [06m16] at URL: https://www.skysports.com/the-hundred/video/36891/12683259/oval-invincibles-dominate-london-spirit
Match video free-to-air from SKY Sports YouTube [04m26/02h44m20s] at URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNnlRvXeBS8
