The Hundred: London Spirit overcome Birmingham Phoenix as Meg Lanning wins battle of Aussie superstars

Meg Lanning won the battle of the superstar Australians at Lord’s, scoring her first half-century in The Hundred as London Spirit overcame Birmingham Phoenix, despite Ellyse Perry’s innings of 65 in reply.

The 16,641 crowd – the fifth-highest in the history of The Hundred women’s competition – were treated to a competitive affair in the sunshine, with momentum shifting this way and that as the big names on both sides took it in turns to stand up and be counted.

Phoenix – off the back of 11 consecutive defeats in The Hundred – looked set to spring a surprise, and perhaps even pull off a memorable upset, but the required run-rate got away from the visitors and three late wickets for Sarah Glenn (4-22) sealed the deal for Heather Knight’s side, who have now won two from two this season.

Earlier, Spirit – wearing a special shirt to mark their partnership with Transport for London – set off like a train. Lanning, Georgia Redmayne and Cordelia Griffith all found the boundary with regularity, with Griffith’s consecutive sixes off Em Arlott, one whipped into the Mound Stand with no shortage of flair, a particular highlight.

Off the back of her winning half-century at Utilita Bowl on Wednesday, England captain Knight added to her side’s momentum and ultimately Phoenix would have been happy to restrict Spirit to 147 for nine, with a bigger total looking likely earlier in the innings.

The smart money would likely have been on Spirit to defend their total with ease but Perry and New Zealand captain Sophie Devine jangled a few nerves with their partnership of 89, especially when Devine dispatched Glenn for two sixes.

The equation with 20 balls left was 40 runs required for Phoenix, but the boundaries dried up and Glenn’s last set of five ensured London Spirit ended day five of The Hundred top of the table.

Player of the Match – Meg Lanning

“It’s a beautiful day here and we wanted to get off to a good start with the bat and put Birmingham Phoenix under pressure, and I think it was a really good all-round performance from everyone.

“It felt like it got a bit more tricky as it went on. Birmingham Phoenix took the pace off a little bit, and the wicket was pretty conducive to that, so it felt like it was a bit more difficult than we had thought but it ended up a competitive total.

“With the ball it was about bowling pretty straight at the stumps and taking pace off the ball. We thought Phoenix used that really well so we wanted to do that right from the start, and we were able to hold our nerve when Devine and Perry were going. We just had to hold our nerve and we knew a chance would come.

“Lord’s is a great place to play, very special. It’s great to be here in front of a fantastic crowd and nice to get the win.”

What’s next?

The Hundred continues on Sunday as Welsh Fire take on Oval Invincibles from Sophia Gardens, in Cardiff.

The women’s match (2.55pm on air, 3pm first ball) is live on Sky Sports Mix and via a free live stream on skysports.com, the Sky Sports app and on the Sky Sports Cricket YouTube channel.

The men’s game starts at 6.30pm with build-up beginning at 6pm on Sky Sports Mix. There will also be coverage on Sky Sports Cricket from around 6.30pm, once day four of the England vs West Indies Test match has finished.

Sky Sports will show all 68 games in The Hundred live, while you can also watch selected matches via free streams on Sky Sports’ digital platforms and the Sky Sports Cricket YouTube channel.