London Spirit vs Manchester Originals at London (North), at Lord’s (St John’s Wood) on 9 August 2024
Spirit pulled-off a ‘convincing win’ over Originals in a north-south derby, following what turned out to be an effortless run-chase dominated by skipper Heather Knight and overseas batter Georgia Redmayne. Together, the pair added 90-runs to move Spirit into joint-third place (on equal points with their London derby rivals.) Commentators added that only the top-three teams can bag places in the ‘eliminator spot.’ By comparison, Originals have less than a wafer-thin chance to qualify. Receiving ‘Meerkat Match Hero’ cap-and-medal award from Eoin Morgan for her first half-century of this year’s competition, Georgia Redmayne [66*not out (from 59 balls)] said that when batting she had to ‘play to her strengths,’ on a ‘tricky’ wicket. Georgia Redmayne added that Spirit weren’t chasing a ‘massive total’ but were determined to ‘put-on-a-show’ for their home-crowd. Separately, Charlie Dean was best-bowler taking a 3-fer [3 wickets, (conceding 20 runs).] Introduced for SKY Sports by Melanie ‘Mel’ Jones (broadcaster & former Australian international) with Eoin Morgan CBE (broadcaster & former England international) and guest commentator Stuart Broad CBE (former England international.) Also with Nasser Hussain OBE (broadcaster & former England international), Michael ‘Mike’ Atherton OBE (broadcaster, sports journalist & former England international.) Broadcast featured Sophie Ecclestone (fashion); plus interviews with Charlie Dean (Spirit & England) and Tamsin Greenway (former England international for netball.) Also with Sarah Glenn (Spirit & England) on commentary. Weather: mainly hot, sunny with clear blue sky 25C.
*Originals’ innings: *skipper Sophie Ecclestone with international players Beth Mooney & Kim Garth (Australia); & Laura Wolvaardt (Rep South Africa);*[Georgia Redmayne keeping wicket for Spirit]; *Laura Wolvaardt was bowled by a ball ’skidding-low,’ from Charlie Dean; *After 25 balls power-play 25/1; *With ‘huge deflection,’ Beth Mooney was caught behind, seen as ‘off her glove’ by keeper Georgia Redmayne, from Charlie Dean; *Coming around-the-wicket to the left-hander, Eve Jones was caught-and-bowled ‘brilliantly’ by Sarah Glenn diving low-down; *Midway after 50 balls, 48/3; *Kathryn Bryce went plumb ‘leg-before’ to Sarah Glenn; *Four balls later Sophie Ecclestone went ‘leg-before’ to Charlie Dean; *Emma Lamb was caught at ‘deep midwicket’ by Cordelia Griffith’s back-tracking catch, acknowledged by ‘a big smile,’ bowled by Deepti Sharma; *With three balls remaining, Fi Morris was ‘run-out’ by Deepti Sharma’s throw to Danni Gibson receiving; *Commentators lauded Danni Gibson for ‘great awareness’ when breaking-the-wicket with her right-hand with a backwards roll at the non-striker’s end; Between innings, commentators added that Spirit’s spinners ‘did the damage’ (by taking five wickets) and interviewed Charlie Dean for her ‘brilliant performance;’ *Originals’ batting: Kathryn Bryce 32(27), Emma Lamb 28(26), Beth Mooney 20(17), Fi Morris 17(13);*Spirit’s bowling: Charlie Dean 3/20, Sarah Glenn 2/20, Deepti Sharma 1/24;
*Spirit’s innings *skipper Heather Knight with international players Meg Lanning, & Georgia Redmayne (Australia) and Deepti Sharma (India); *[Ellie Threlkeld keeping wicket for Originals]; *Meg Lanning was bowled, with her off-stump flattened by Lauren Filer; *After 25 balls ‘power-play’ 25/1 (vs25/1); *Cordelia Griffith was bowled by Alice Monaghan’s first delivery; *An ‘absolute jaffa:’ that ‘nipped back’ down-the-slope to ’top-of-middle’ (stump); *Crucial moment after 40 balls with 78 runs still needed when Sophie Ecclestone came on to bowl (as World’s No.1 bowler) but remained wicketless. *Level-pegging after 50 balls 49/2 (vs48/3); *Georgia Redmayne carried her bat undefeated with top-score;*Skipper Heather Knight hit the winning ‘four;’ *Spirit’s batting: Georgia Redmayne 66*not out(59), Heather Knight 29*not out (27); *Originals’ bowling: Alice Mongahan 1/20, Lauren Filer 1/33;
*Match result: London Spirit 115/2 (1.2 runs-per-ball, target 113 from 92/100) beat Manchester Originals 112/7 (1.1 r-p-b, from 100/100) by eight wickets (with 8 balls remaining)
*Full match courtesy of SKY Sports Cricket for ‘The Hundred’ (Women) free-to-air via YouTube [03h29m00s] @url https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsotqlEg8Sc
*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
