The Hundred: London Spirit women end on winning note

Grace Harris’ belligerent 87 (47 balls) lifted Spirit to 172-5 after they were put in by a Phoenix side already doomed to finish bottom of the table. Harris and Richa Ghosh (29, 17 balls) thrashed 48 in 25 balls to ensure a daunting target.

Phoenix replied with 99 all out in 76 balls (Amelia Kerr 4-13) as Spirit ended their staccato campaign with a second win to go alongside four defeats and two ‘no results.’ For Phoenix, the drubbing was one final instalment of a nightmare which has seen them lose seven with one washout.

In a gesture which rather summed up Phoenix’s accident-prone campaign, the main scoreboard at Edgbaston went ‘phut’ just before the start of the match and remained blank throughout the first innings. It missed a perky start from Spirit openers Danielle Gibson and Harris who added 46 in 20 balls. Gibson struck four of the ten balls she faced for four before being yorked by Charis Pavely.

Kerr chipped to mid on and Sophie Luff was well-held by Issy Wong at deep square but Harris advanced to a 31-ball half-century, reached with her 10th four, a sweet sweep which crested the rope in front of the dormant scoreboard.

The Australian celebrated with successive sixes, off Erin Burns and Sophie Devine, and Ghosh also cleared the ropes in a blitz which brought 19 runs in four balls.

Ghosh was run out after a mix-up but Harris continued to bat with power and purpose, adding 13 fours to her two sixes before she was run out off the final ball of the innings.

Phoenix needed something spectacular with the bat but lost their top five in 45 balls. Devine was superbly caught by Kerr at deep square from the third ball of the innings and Tess Flintoff was bowled, sweeping at Charlie Dean.

Sterre Kalis’ counter-attack (28, 16 balls) was ended by an lbw decision for Sarah Glenn before Kerr took two big wickets in five balls. Amy Jones was caught by Dean at extra cover and Burns sought six over long on but found only Gibson right on the rope.

That left Phoenix skipper Eve Jones with 104 to find from 55 balls and only the lower order for company.

Her departure, bowled through a slog at Kerr, only accelerated the procession and when the ubiquitous Kerr caught Wong at long on, Spirit were home and dry and left to ponder what might have been if they had produced performances of this power earlier in the tournament.

Spirit all-rounder Kerr said: “It’s nice to finish with a win. With bat, ball and in the field it was really pleasing. We probably hadn’t had a complete performance until today and it is always nice to finish on a high.

“Grace Harris and Danny Gibson really set the tone for us with the bat and then Grace batting through was unbelievable. When you put a big total like that on the board, teams have to come hard and that brings opportunities for the bowlers and that’s what happened.

“It was an awesome way to go into the second innings with Grace having batted so well. Then we quickly got among the wickets and when you are constantly picking up wickets in a run-chase it makes it hard for batters coming in and starting.

“Sometimes it’s your day and sometimes it’s not and it was nice for me to get among the wickets. It was a great team performance and we know how good we are as a team, when you look at us on paper, we’ve got so much talent and are led extremely well by Heather.

“I guess it’s disappointing that we didn’t do this earlier but then we had so many close games which could have gone either way. We didn’t play our best cricket which was frustrating at times, but we are human and doing our best and it was pleasing to pull out this performance.”