Aussie duo Ashleigh Gardner and Alana King spun Trent Rockets to a much-needed 31-run win over London Spirit at Trent Bridge in The Hundred ladies’s competitors.
Gardner and King mixed for six wickets as a star-studded Spirit line-up by no means threatened to chase down 158-5.
Younger gun Grace Scrivens struck 55 from 43 balls for the hosts, though she needed to stroll off the sector within the second innings when she was struck within the face trying a catch.
It meant Rockets ended a three-game dropping streak and was made all of the extra spectacular as Nat Sciver-Brunt, the ladies’s competitors’s main runscorer, had a relatively quiet match with 21 from 12 balls.
Former England U19s skipper Scrivens performed arguably her greatest innings of The Hundred, sharing a 74-run opening stand with Bryony Smith that set the tone for a efficiency that may have caught the eye of the opposite groups.
Scrivens hit 9 boundaries and her opening stand with Smith, who crashed 34 from 22 balls, was solely led to misfortunate when Charlie Dean obtained a finger on the ball earlier than it crashed into the stumps with Smith unable to recuperate her floor after backing up.
India star Deepti Sharma claimed the massive wickets of Sciver-Brunt and Gardner, however Heather Graham’s unbeaten 22 from 12 balls ensured a quick end.
Spirit’s chase was instantly undermined when Gardner eliminated Georgia Redmayne and Cordelia Griffith from successive balls earlier than King had former Australia captain Meg Lanning caught by Kirstie Gordon at mid-on.
Gardner trapped Dani Gibson lbw and when England and Spirit skipper Heather Knight’s sweep at King landed within the palms of Smith, after hitting 29 from 20, the sport was up.
Gardner and King each completed with equivalent figures of 3-23 from 20 balls as Spirit closed on 127-7.
Participant of the match: Ashleigh Gardner
“It was a huge win for us. It was probably the first game we put all three facets of the game together. The openers did a fantastic job giving us the start that they did. That was the best we’ve been with the ball and we were pretty clean in the field.
“It was a reasonably good efficiency.”
What’s next?
The Hundred continues with four matches on Thursday. First, Welsh Fire and Northern Superchargers women get the day started at 11.30am, before another women’s match between Oval Invincibles and Southern Brave at 3pm.
Also at 3pm, the Welsh Fire and Northern Superchargers men meet in Cardiff, then Oval Invincibles go up against Southern Brave men at 6.30pm. Every match from The Hundred is live on Sky Sports Cricket.
