England captain Heather Knight’s unbeaten 65 from 31 balls led London Spirit to an exhilarating six-wicket victory over defending ladies’s champions Southern Courageous in The Hundred.
Knight got here to the crease with Spirit on 78-3 from 57 balls and needing an extra 74 from 43 deliveries to overtake Courageous’s complete of 151-6 on the Utilita Bowl in Southampton.
Nonetheless, the England skipper hit 9 fours and one six, along with her closing boundary, off final yr’s main wicket-taker Georgia Adams, seeing Spirit dwelling with three balls to spare.
Knight’s England team-mate Danni Wyatt (59 off 35) earlier top-scored for Courageous, having additionally scored a fifty in her aspect’s win over Northern Superchargers in final yr’s closing.
Sixteen-year-old Courageous spinner Tilly Corteen-Coleman then made ex-Australia captain Meg Lanning (12) her first wicket in The Hundred on debut, catching the opener off her personal bowling.
However Lanning’s compatriot Georgia Redmayne contributed 45 from 31 balls on the prime of the order, earlier than Knight’s match-winning innings inflicted only a second dwelling defeat on Courageous in The Hundred.
Participant of the Match – Heather Knight
“I attempted to get in after which flicked the change on the backend. Beating the Courageous right here is de facto powerful to take action I am actually satisfied with how we went.
“They probably got 10 or 15 too many, we dropped a few catches and Danni Wyatt played a remarkable innings – she’s so hard to set fields to. But I knew if we had a set batter, with a quick outfield, we could catch up quickly.
“I did not have many at first however as soon as I used to be in it felt like I may actually put my foot down. The scoreboard generally provides you no alternative however to try this. It paid off.”
What’s subsequent?
The Hundred continues on Thursday as Manchester Originals tackle Welsh Fireplace at Emirates Previous Trafford.
Each matches are dwell on Sky Sports activities Cricket and Sky Sports activities Predominant Occasion, in addition to in a free dwell stream on skysports.com, the Sky Sports activities app and on the Sky Sports activities Cricket YouTube channel.
Originals Girls vs Fireplace Girls is dwell from 2.30pm (3pm first ball), with Originals Males vs Fireplace Males on air from 6pm (6.30pm first ball).
Sky Sports activities will present all 68 video games in The Hundred dwell this summer season, whereas it’s also possible to watch chosen matches through free streams on Sky Sports activities’ digital platforms and Sky Sports activities Cricket YouTube channel.
