London Spirit sent Welsh Fire crashing to a sixth defeat in six as they ran out comfortable 17-run winners on Wednesday night at Lord’s, a victory that takes them top of the table with two games to play.
Story of the match
Dan Lawrence put in a superb all-round display for the Spirit, smashing three sixes in his 43 off 26 deliveries with the bat, before then taking 4-20 with his 20 balls of off-spin.
Lawrence’s batting fireworks, along with handy contributions from Adam Rossington (32 off 20) and Ben McDermott (32 off 23) and some late hitting by Kieron Pollard (25no off 17) helped the hosts up to 156-6 batting first.
London Spirit’s Dan Lawrence says it is great to come back from the England Lions tour and contribute to a win with bat and ball
In reply, the Fire’s top order once again faltered, with Joe Clarke (9) the first to depart, to Jordan Thompson (1-38), before Lawrence ran through captain Josh Cobb (3), Jacob Bethell (10) and David Miller (5).
Ben Duckett (34 off 19) briefly gave the visitors hope, smashing three fours and two sixes in his enterprising cameo at the crease, before he was bowled, Lawrence’s fourth victim.
Dwaine Pretorius (23 off 17) cleared the ropes twice, as did Leus du Plooy (30 off 18) and Matt Critchley (21 off 7) as the Fire’s lower order at least provided some entertainment for the Lord’s crowd – even if the game itself was long since lost, a sixth straight defeat.
Chris Wood (4-28) came on and spoilt the fun, taking the wickets of all three, along with Ish Sodhi (1), to wrap up a convincing Spirit victory.
They now join Trent Rockets on five wins from six games, needing one more to guarantee themselves a play-off place.
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Ben Duckett produced an incredible bit of fielding for Welsh Fire to prevent a six for London Spirit at Lord’s
What they said…
England batter, Jos Buttler, on Sky Sports: “It was maybe closer than it looked at one point.
“The Spirit did a fantastic job defending that score. They look a really well-drilled team – clear, defined roles.
“We expected them to win the game tonight, but it is never that easy and I thought it was a fantastic performance.
“We know what [Dan Lawrence] can do with the bat, he is full of confidence and actually he took the lead in that partnership with Kieron Pollard.”
London Spirit captain Eoin Morgan says his side’s improvement from last year is due to their relaxed nature and is full of praise for his bowlers’ performances in the win against Welsh Fire
London Spirit captain, Eoin Morgan: “Considering some of the games I’ve played in over the years – I’m sure Jos was reminding everybody of the 2016 T20 World Cup final, when we thought we had enough – you think they’re never out of it.
“Carlos Brathwaite thankfully wasn’t batting tonight. Our bowlers did a magnificent job – we thought at the halfway stage it was an under-par score.
What’s next?
Next up in The Hundred is a double-header between Southern Brave and Trent Rockets at The Ageas Bowl on Thursday.
Thursday 25th August 3:00pm
It’s a case of contrasting fortunes for the two sides across the women’s and men’s competitions, with the Brave women undefeated with four wins from four heading into their clash at 3.30pm – live on Sky Sports Mix – with the fourth-placed Rockets, on the fringes of the play-off places.
As for the men’s tournament, the Rockets currently sit second in the table, with five wins from six, while it has been a disappointing title defence for the Brave, with just two wins to show from it so far – they face off from 7pm, live on Sky Sports The Hundred.
Thursday 25th August 6:45pm
The Fire and Spirit are next in action on Friday and Saturday, respectively, with the former hosting the Northern Superchargers and the latter taking on the Oval Invincibles in a London derby at Lord’s.
Watch every match from The Hundred this summer live on Sky Sports.
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