Southern Brave vs London Spirit at the Utilita Bowl, Southampton on 24 July 2024
Spirit won an exciting match, beating the defending champions playing before their home crowd of 9,000. Earlier, commentators were especially critical of Spirit’s performance after witnessing two dropping catches and they remained unimpressed by their bowling attack apart from Tara Norris who’d bowled three ‘dot’ balls from her set-of-five. Between innings Spirit were prescribed with ‘work to do,’ which they had to ‘make-up with the bat.’ Spirit ‘came from behind’ to win thanks mainly to Heather Knight (pictured) who struck one ’six’ and nine ‘fours,’ her ninth ‘four’ winning the match [65*not out runs (from 31 balls.)] Receiving POTM ‘Meerkat match hero’ cap-and-medal from Robert Croft, Heather Knight mentioned her winning counter-attack was enabled by a ‘quick outfield.’ Separately with credit given to England team-mate Danni Wyatt, now top of the all-time batting leader-board with 739 runs from 28 matches; (at time of writing.) Most of all, the match will be remembered for Australian Meg Lanning’s shock dismissal, when caught-and-bowled by debutante 16yo bowler Tilly Corteen-Coleman. Introduced by Nick ‘Knighty’ Knight (broadcaster & former England international) with Ebony Rainford Brent MBE (broadcaster & former England international – director Women’s cricket at Surrey); Robert ‘Crofty’ Croft MBE (Welsh cricketer, former England international) with Melanie ‘Mel’ Jones (broadcaster & former Australian international) and Natalie Germanos (broadcaster & actress from Rep. South Africa TV); Also with Eoin Morgan (former England international) pitch-side; and Dinesh Karthik (former India international.) Commentators mentioned ‘good wicket’ and ‘good weather,’ also rain-free but with a noticeable breeze.
*Brave’s innings *skipper Georgia Adams with international players Lauren Cheatle & Charlie Knott (Australia); Also with Chloe Tryon (Rep. South Africa); [Georgia Redmayne keeping wicket for Spirit] *Spilled earlier, Maia Bouchier was ‘run-out’ by Tara Norris’ long-throw from ‘fine-leg’ to the keeper, from Danni Gibson’s bowling; *Midway after 50 balls, 77/1; *Dropped earlier, Charlie Knott’s ‘slog-sweep’ was caught ‘in-the-deep’ by Charlie Dean’s sliding catch, from Erin Burns; *Freya Kemp was caught aerial at ‘deep-mid-wicket’ by Cordelia Griffith from Eva Gray; *Missing a ‘late-cut,’ top-scorer Danni Wyatt feathered an edge to keeper Georgia Redmayne from Erin Burns; *Georgia Adams was caught at ‘deep-mid-wicket’ by Charlie Dean, taken low-down and rolling sideways, from Danni Gibson’s ‘full-toss;’ *Finally, fve balls later, Chloe Tryon went aerial from a top-edge, caught vertically at ‘mid-off’ by Danni Gibson, from Sophie Munro; *Brave’s batting: Danni Wyatt 59(35), Maia Bouchier 35(21), Georgia Adams 21(14) and Chloe Tryon 20(13); *Spirit’s bowling: Erin Burns 2/6, Eva Gray 1/13, Danni Gibson 1/28, Sophie Munro 1/34;
*Spirit’s innings *skipper Heather Knight with international players Meg Lanning, Erin Burns and Georgia Redmayne (Australia); [Rhianna Southby keeping wicket for Brave];*Shock dismissal when Meg Lanning was caught-and-bowled by debutante 16yo Tilly Corteen-Coleman; *With both batters stranded, Cordelia Griffith was ‘run-out’ by Maia Bouchier’s direct throw, from Tilly Corteen-Coleman; *Midway after 50 balls, 66/2 (vs 77/1); *Chopping to ‘off,’ Georgia Redmayne dragged-on to her ‘leg-stump;’ *Playing a late cameo, Danni Gibson was ‘run-out’ by Charli Knott’s ‘one-bounce’ throw from ‘mid-off’, from Lauren Bell’s ‘pace-off’ delivery; *Heather Knight made a skipper’s ‘fifty’ and struck the winning ‘four’ from Georgia Adams; *Spirit’s batting:*skipper Heather Knight 65*not out (31), Georgia Redmayne 45(31), Danni Gibson 18(15); *Brave’s bowling: Charlie Knott 1/26, Tilly Corteen-Coleman 1/39;
*Match result: London Spirit 153/4 (@1.5 runs-per-ball from 97/100 balls) beat Southern Brave 151/6 (@1.5 r-p-b from 100/100 balls), by six wickets with 3 balls remaining
*Match highlights courtesy of The Hundred Cricket free-to-air [11m17s] @url https://www.thehundred.com/video/4066758/southern-brave-vs-london-spirit-women-s-highlights-2024
*‘Heather Knight smashes fifty in tight finish’ courtesy of SKY Sports Cricket – via YouTube [11m17s]@url https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szf1jhth_Vg
*Match courtesy of SKY Sports Cricket free-to-air via YouTube [3h28m00s] @url https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tsa5lkwPwBs
*Heather Knight’s 65 not out from 31 balls [1m36s] @url https://www.skysports.com/the-hundred/news/36890/13184328/the-hundred-heather-knight-plays-crucial-innings-as-london-spirit-beat-defending-champions-southern-brave
*Fixtures @url https://www.ecb.co.uk/news/3801564/the-hundred-2024-fixtures
