Skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt starred for Trent Rockets as she hit five sixes against London Spirit in The Hundred; Sciver-Brunt recorded nine fours and four sixes; The Hundred continues on Sunday with four more games on Sky Sports
Saturday 12 August 2023 19:40, UK
Trent Rockets skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt smashed an unbeaten 81 from 41 balls to lead her side to their first victory of this year's The 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 recorded nine fours and four sixes, including two successive maximums off Danielle Gibson to clinch victory 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 the 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.
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 fielder at point.
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 Sarah 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
deliveries.
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.
Southern Brave went top of the Hundred table with a last-ball win against Welsh Fire in front of a record women's crowd of 6,500 in Cardiff.
Captain Anya Shrubsole kept her nerve to get a leg bye off the final ball from Shabnim Ismail as Brave chased down the Fire total of 144 for five with two wickets to spare.
Sophia Dunkley hit a half-century for Fire, with Sarah Bryce an unbeaten 44, while Maia Bouchier and Smriti Mandhana laid the foundation for Brave to eventually creep over the line.
Brave put Fire in and Tammy Beaumont departed after a breezy start, caught on the boundary off Georgia Adams, but Dunkley was in sparkling form against her former team-mates.
She reached her fifty off just 32 balls, getting good support in a second-wicket partnership from Scotland's Bryce, but went next delivery, bowled when trying to cut a Chloe Tryon arm ball.
New batter Laura Harris then upped the scoring rate, getting 19 off seven balls including a towering straight six off Lauren Bell, before being bowled by Shrubsole going for another big hit.
Bryce anchored the innings with an unbeaten 44 off 36, while Adams extended her lead as the competition's top wicket-taker, taking two for 22 from her 20 balls.
Ismail opened the bowling following on from her hat-trick heroics in the victory over Birmingham Phoenix and continued her wicket-taking form by dismissing Danni Wyatt with her fifth ball.
But the Women's Hundred top run-scorer Mandhana was soon into her stride for Brave, with good support from Bouchier.
They progressed to 77 at the halfway stage, Dunkley missing a run-out chance to dismiss Mandhana when she could not reach the stumps at the bowler's end.
It did not prove too expensive as the Indian lofted to Ismail on the deep extra cover boundary off the bowling of Freya Davies to depart for 41 off 30 balls.
Bouchier took on the role of main aggressor before Davies took a catch running back from mid-off off Georgia Elwiss' bowling to dismiss her for 42 off 26.
Elwiss made it two wickets from two balls as Freya Kemp went lbw and the pendulum swung firmly towards Welsh Fire.
But Tryon survived the hat-trick ball before Adams kept her side in the game with 40, leaving the bottom order to get over the line.
The Hundred continues on Sunday with four more games.
The men and women's Northern Superchargers, Manchester Originals, Birmingham Phoenix, and Oval Invincibles take to the field.
The double-header will provide a day full of action, with the first match beginning at 11am, and the final fixture getting under way at 6pm.
Sky Sports will show all 68 games in The Hundred live this summer. Stream The Hundred and more with NOW
