The Hundred: London Spirit women lose out to Trent Rockets

Trent Rockets skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt smashed an unbeaten 81 from 41 balls to lead her side to their first victory of the Women’s Hundred as they overcame London Spirit by five wickets at Lord’s.

Sciver-Brunt’s brutal hitting was too much for the home bowlers as she racked up nine fours and four sixes, including two successive maximums off Danielle Gibson, to clinch the win with 13 balls to spare.

The visitors’ spinners had bowled well to restrict Spirit – who remain without a win in the tournament – to 124 for four, with Kirstie Gordon taking two for 19.

But Rockets were in some difficulty themselves at 29 for three before the captain took control of the game, sharing a partnership of 51 from 34 with Fran Wilson to get her side back on track.

Having won the toss, Rockets put the hosts in and opened with left-arm seam pair Alexa Stonehouse and Naomi Dattani, who concentrated on bowling a line that protected the short boundary on the grandstand side.

However, it was spin that broke the opening stand of 27, with Gordon’s second delivery tempting Grace Harris to cut straight into the hands of the point fielder.

Gibson continued to thrive, crunching a series of boundaries that included a sweet straight drive off Alana King to reach 36 from 27 before she was also undone by Gordon, miscuing one to the off side.

Spirit struggled to get the slow bowlers away, with Heather Knight skying King to deep square leg as both the Australian all-rounder and Bryony Smith went for less than a run a ball.

Richa Ghosh batted shrewdly for her 20 from 18 and, following a quiet start, Amelia Kerr picked up some momentum during the penultimate set of five as she scooped Stonehouse for three boundaries to finish unbeaten on 36 from 30.

Rockets suffered an early blow in reply as the big-hitting Lizelle Lee – having dispatched Gibson to the leg-side fence – tried to repeat the shot three balls later and speared it to mid-on instead.

Sciver-Brunt was soon up and running, though, punching Charlie Dean off the back foot for four as the visitors progressed to 21 for one from 20 balls before a sudden downpour held up play.

The game resumed after a 25-minute delay and Spirit’s spinners seized their opportunity, with Dean pinning Smith in front before Glenn produced another ball that skidded on to remove Harmanpreet Kaur in the same fashion.

That left Rockets in trouble, but the captain counter-attacked as she drove Glenn twice to the fence and took 13 off five balls from Kerr before hitting Lauren Filer for back-to-back boundaries to bring up her half-century from 32.

Despite losing two quick wickets, Jo Gardner kept Sciver-Brunt company with an unbeaten 17 from 11 and the pair plundered 23 from Grace Scrivens’ set of five – including three sixes – to propel their side across the line.