Northern Superchargers vs London Spirit at Headingley (Leeds) on 13 August 2024;
Beefed-up as a ‘winner-takes-all’ match, commentators later confirmed that Superchargers were eliminated by their defeat on their home ground. Spirit as visitors ‘won in good style,’ thanks mainly to a decisive 71-run partnership between skipper Heather Knight and international player Deepti Sharma (India) who made 37*not out (from 32 balls) and when bowling, also took star-batter Annabel Sunderland’s key wicket. Receiving POTM ‘Meerkat match hero’ cap-and-medal from Eoin Morgan, Deepti Sharma (pictured) said she excelled in ‘challenging situations’ and became ‘used to’ (favourable playing) conditions. Commentators added that some uncertainty remains whether Spirit can ‘keep their hopes alive’ to qualify for the Eliminator stage, until other results are known. Commentators for SKY Sports, also via ‘YouTube’ social media (for explanatory text, please see below) were Nick ‘Knighty’ Knight, Lydia Greenway OBE & Nasser Hussain OBE, (all three broadcasters & former England internationals), with Eoin Morgan CBE (former England international), and Michael ‘Mike’ Atherton OBE (broadcaster, sports journalist & former England international.) Weather was hot, humid with dense grey cloud-cover and inclement weather expected during the afternoon 20-22C.
Superchargers’ innings: skipper Hollie Armitage, with international players: Phoebe Litchfield, Annabel Sutherland & Georgia Wareham (all Australia); *With Marie Kelly for Davina Perrin; *[Georgia Redmayne keeping wicket for Spirit]; *After a ‘poor start’ with Spirit conceding five ‘wides,’ Marie Kelly was bowled by Tara Norris’ next ball that ‘nipped-back’ to middle (stump), with ‘perfect line-and-length,’ for a golden duck; *Said to be ‘undecided’ which shot to play and missing a ‘nudge’ to ‘leg-side,’ Hollie Armitage was bowled by Eva Gray; *Phoebe Litchfield was bowled ‘down-the-middle’ by Danni Gibson coming round-the-wicket; *Low ‘power-play’ score 19/3; *Annabel Sutherland went aerial, caught ‘in-the-deep’ by Cordelia Griffith from Deepti Sharma; *At mid-way (50 balls) 44/3; *‘Strategic-time-out’ was taken after 75 balls, on 68/4; with 25 balls remaining, at which point floodlights were switched-on; *Breakthrough came when Georgia Wareham was caught ‘in-the-deep’ by Charlie Dean, from Eva Gray; *Followed by Bess Heath next ball, who was bowled by Eva Gray for a golden duck; *Finally, Alice Davidson-Richards missed a leg-side ‘swing’ and was bowled by Danni Gibson’s final innings ball; Between innings, Danni Gibson gave a short interview and explained how she’d shortened her approach when bowling to Phoebe Litchfield; *Superchargers’ batting: Alice Davidson-Richards 33 (39), Annabel Sutherland 24(17), Georgia Wareham 18(22); *Spirit’s bowling: Eva Gray 3/17, Danni Gibson 2/17, Tara Norris 1/6, Deepti Sharma 1/19;
*Spirit’s innings *skipper Heather Knight with international players Meg Lanning, Deepti Sharma (replacing Erin Burns) and Georgia Redmayne (Australia); *[Bess Heath keeping wicket for Superchargers]; *Disaster struck during the ‘power-play’ when two wickets fell in two balls, from Linsey Smith’s bowling, coming wound-the-wicket; *’Big wicket’ when Meg Lanning was caught by ‘in-the-covers’ by Georgia Wareham; *Next ball Cordelia Griffith was bowled ‘through-the-gate’ for a golden duck; Linsey Smith bagged a 3-fer when Georgia Redmayne was caught-and-bowled; *After 25 balls ‘power-play’ 28/3 (vs 19/3); *Midway after 50 balls, 47/3 (vs 44/3) with Superchargers’ hopes of qualification ‘drifting away’ unless bowlers took wickets; *Deepti Sharma and Heather Knight staged a 71-run partnership (from 62 balls) to take Spirit over the line; *With tied scores, Heather Knight struck a match-winning ’six’ to ’finish in style;’ *Spirit’s batting: Heather Knight,43*not out (35), Deepti Sharma 37*not out (31), Meg Lanning 20(11); *Superchargers’ bowling: Linsey Smith 3/20;
Match result: London Spirit 105/3 (1.2 runs-per-ball, target 100/100 from 86/100) beat Northern Superchargers 99/7 (1 r-p-b, from 100/100) by seven wickets (and with 14 balls remaining)
*Full match courtesy of SKY Sports Cricket for ‘The Hundred’ (Women) free-to-air via YouTube [03h31m05s] @url https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF-F-8j3fO8
*Results with link to match centre for edited highlights courtesy of The Hundred (Women) @url https://www.thehundred.com/results?year=2024
*Fixtures @url https://www.ecb.co.uk/news/3801564/the-hundred-2024-fixtures