London Spirit vs Oval Invincibles at Lord’s (London, St John’s Wood) on 4 August 2024
Keenly contested London derby in which winners expected to go top-of-table, instead of which scores were tied and points shared. As top performer both with bat-and-ball, international ‘All-Rounder’ Marizanne Kapp (pictured) collected POTM ‘Meerkat match hero’ cap-and-medal for her ‘massive impact’ by making Invincibles’ top-score [47 runs (from 32 balls)]; also taking a ‘4-fer (4 wickets for 11 runs.) By contrast, Spirit’s outstanding All-Rounder was Deepti Sharma [44 runs (from 34 balls)]; and also took a ‘3-fer (3 wickets for 18 runs.) Separately, it was the first time that the POTM expressed honest ’disappointment’ with her own performance. Earlier, commentators placed Marizanne Kapp as third-placed bowler with 32 wickets, with another four wickets taken during the match narrowing the gap on team-mate Amanda-Jade Wellington (placed top.) Marizanne Kapp explained to viewers that she’d planned to bat right through the innings (rather than leave tail enders with too much to do.) Commentators for SKY Sports before a crowd of 17,810 were Natalie Germanos (broadcaster & actress from Rep. South Africa TV); with Eoin Morgan CBE (former England international); Dominic Cork (Head Coach at Derbyshire Falcons & former England international) and Simon Doull (NZ broadcaster & former NZ international. Weather mainly cloudy, hot-and-humid 25C.
*Spirit’s innings *skipper Heather Knight with international players Meg Lanning, & Georgia Redmayne (Australia) and Deepti Sharma (India); *[Lauren Winfield-Hill keeping wicket for Invincibles]; *Disaster struck when Marizanne Kapp bowled three ‘jaffas’ during the power-play; *Firstly, Meg Lanning was bowled ‘through-the-gate’ hitting top of ‘off-stump;’ *Secondly Cordelia Griffith was bowled ‘nipping away’ (out-swing) hitting top of ‘middle-stump;’ *After 25 balls ‘power-play’ 31/2; *Thirdly Georgia Redmayne was bowled ‘nipping downhill’; *Danni Gibson was short-lived offering an ‘agricultural shot’ to a ball from Ryana MacDonald-Gay ‘bowled nipping-back, downhill;’ *Heather Knight was also bowled by Marizanne Kapp, ‘nipping back’ (in-swing) to top of ‘off-stump;’ *Midway after 50 balls, 47/5; *Charlie Dean was bowled ‘up the slope’ by Amanda-Jade Wellington, hitting ‘top-of-off-stump’ (and compared to Alana King’s recent ‘ball-of-the-century);’ *Deepti Sharma was bowled with ‘middle-stump’ flattened by by Ryana MacDonald-Gay; *Three balls later, Sarah Glenn was caught wide of ‘long-on’ by Mady Villiers, from Sophia Smale’s spin; *Next ball, Sophie Munro was bowled for a golden duck, placing Sophia Smale on expectation for a ‘hat-trick’ from the last ball (that instead went for two runs); *Spirit’s batting: Deepti Sharma 44(34), Cordelia Griffith 19(12), Eva Gray 18*not out(12); *Invincibles’ bowling: Marizanne Kapp 4/11, Sophia Smale 2/22, Ryana MacDonald-Gay 2/26;
*Invincibles’ innings: *skipper Lauren Winfield-Hill, with international players Chamari Athapathatu (Sri Lanka); Amanda-Jade Wellington (Australia); Also Marizanne Kapp (Rep. South Africa); [Georgia Redmayne keeping wicket for Spirit]; *’Lacking power,’ for headroom to clear the inner ring, Chamari Athapathatu was caught by Danni Gibson at ‘long-on’ from Tara Norris; *Following a pair of ducks previously, Lauren Winfield-Hill was stumped by fellow keeper Georgia Redmayne, misjudging Eva Gray’s out-swinger; *After 25 balls ‘power-play’ 27/2 (vs 31/2) *Alice Capsey was bowled ‘leg-stump’ by Deepti Sharma’s yorker; *At mid-way (50 balls) 70/3 (vs 47/5); *Paige Scholfield was caught aerial ‘brilliantly’ and one-handed by Charlie Dean, from Deepti Sharma; *Mady Villiers was bowled ‘through-the-gate’ by Charlie Dean; *Two balls later, non-striker Amanda-Jade Wellington was ‘run-out’ by Sarah Glenn’s throw to the striker’s end; *Marizanne Kapp deflected off her pads to off-stump, bowled by Deepti Sharma; *Finally, Ryana MacDonald-Gay took a ‘single’ from a ‘wide,’ to draw scores level but was ‘run out’ from Charlie Dean’s throw to keeper Georgia Redmayne at the striker’s end; *Invincibles’ batting: Marizanne Kapp 47(32), Alice Capsey 27(18), Jo Gardner 16*not out(15); *Spirit’s bowling: Deepti Sharma 3/18, Tara Norris 1/13, Eva Gray 1/20, Charlie Dean 1/21;
*Match result: London Spirit 113/9 (@1.1 run-per-ball, from 100/100 balls) tied with Oval Invincibles 113/8 (1.1 r-p-b target 114, from 100/100 balls): points shared
*Full match courtesy of SKY Sports Cricket free-to-air via YouTube [03h28m10s] @url https://www.youtube.com/live/VSl8VeO_frE
*Fixtures @url https://www.ecb.co.uk/news/3801564/the-hundred-2024-fixtures
*Results with link to match centre for edited highlights courtesy of The Hundred (Women) @url https://www.thehundred.com/results?year=2024
