Trent Rockets vs London Spirit at Nottingham (Trent Bridge) on 7 August 2024
Upon arrival of skipper Knight and her core of England players, Spirit’s expectations for a good performance were high having won one more match than their opponents (plus a ‘gifted’ tie.) Playing at home following three back-to-back losses, Rockets, skippered by Nat Sciver-Brunt (pictured) were looking to turn their fortunes around, albeit with both sides scorecards listing identical players as before. That had attracted a little criticism via social media. Conceding that London Spirit ‘never really got going,’ commentators awarded ‘Meerkat match hero’ cap-and-medal to Ash Gardner (Rockets) for taking a ‘3-fer’ with exactly the same performance as Alana King [3 wickets, conceding 23 runs.] Ash Gardner paid tribute to openers: Bryony Smith and Grace Scrivens who made top-score, but had to leave the field injured, when fielding. Introduced for SKY Sports by Melanie ‘Mel’ Jones (broadcaster & former Australian international) with Charles Dagnall (broadcaster & former county player) and guest commentators James ‘Jimmy’ Anderson OBE (Fast-bowling mentor and former England international); and Katherine Sciver-Brunt OBE (former England international.) Also with. Ebony Rainford Brent MBE (broadcaster & former England international – director Women’s cricket at Surrey); and Dinesh Karthik (former India international.) Weather was ‘cool’ with patches of blue sky, when compared to last week’s heatwave that lasted for 3-days.
*Rockets’ innings: skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt, with international players: Ashleigh ‘Ash’ Gardner, Heather Graham & Alana King (all Australia); *[Georgia Redmayne keeping wicket for Spirit]; *After 25 balls ‘power-play 35/0; *Bryony Smith was ’run-out’ by Charlie Dean deflected the returning ball onto stumps at the non-striker’s end; *At mid-way (50 balls) 78/1; *Nat Sciver-Brunt was caught at ‘backward point’ by Charlie Dean, from Deepti Sharma; *Grace Scrivens was bowled ‘top-of-middle’ with both bails sent flying by Sarah Glenn; *Ash Gardner was caught at ‘deep square’ by Meg Lanning, from Deepti Sharma; *Alana King was ’run-out’ by Meg Lanning’s throw to keeper Georgia Redmayne; *Heather Graham was stranded ‘not out;’ *Rockets’ batting: Grace Scrivens 55(43), Bryony Smith 34(22), Heather Graham 22*not out (12), Nat Sciver-Brunt 21(12); *Spirit’s bowling: Deepti Sharma 2/25, Sarah Glenn 1/28;
*Spirit’s innings *skipper Heather Knight with international players Meg Lanning, & Georgia Redmayne (Australia) and Deepti Sharma (India); *[Nat Wraith keeping wicket for Rockets]; *Georgia Redmayne was bowled ‘leg-stump’ through-the-gate by Ash Gardner; *Next ball Cordelia Griffith came down-the-wicket’ missing the ball ‘outside off-stump’ and was stumped by keeper Nat Wraith, from Ash Gardner;*After 25 balls ‘power-play’ 25/2 (vs35/0); *Meg Lanning mistimed, ballooning to Kirstie Gordon at ‘mid-on,’ bowled by Alana King; *Midway after 50 balls 62/3 (vs78/1); *Upon review reconfirming Umpires’s call, Danni Gibson went ‘leg-before’ plumb in line to leg-stump, to Ash Gardner; *Heather Knight swept with top-edge to ’short-fine,’ caught by Bryony Smith from Alana King; *Play was interrupted after Grace Scrivens was struck by the 67th ball, leaving field-of-play with concussion and a swelling bruise, substituted thereafter by Cassidy McCarthy; *Charlie Dean was caught at ‘deep midwicket’ by Katie George, from Alana King; *Penultimate ball, Eva Gray was ‘run-out’ from a free hit from Ash Gardner’s throw to Heather Graham at the non-striker’s end; *Deepti Sharma was left stranded ’not out;’ *Spirit’s batting: Deepti Sharma 30*not out(23), Heather Knight 29(20), Meg Lanning 23(18), Danni Gibson 13(10), Charlie Dean 13(12); *Rockets’ bowling: Ashleigh ‘Ash’ Gardner 3/23, Alana King 3/23;
*Match result: Trent Rockets 158/5 (@1.5 runs-per-ball from 100/100 balls) beat London Spirit 127/7 (@1.2 r-p-b, target 159 from 100/100 balls) by 31 runs
*Full match courtesy of SKY Sports Cricket free-to-air via YouTube [03h23m05s] @url https://www.youtube.com/live/BbtO3ELJg24
*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
