London Spirit edge Welsh Fire in thrilling final at Lord’s to claim women’s Hundred title

In a tense finale, it was left to Deepti Sharma and Charlie Dean to get their team over the line, with Indian all-rounder Sharma finishing the job with a six over long on with just two balls left.

Sharma’s strike hung in the air and briefly looked to be heading to Shabnim Ismail on the boundary, but there was enough power to go all the way and bring an end to a topsy-turvy encounter that swung both ways.

As a result, head coach Ashley Noffke and campaign Heather Knight celebrated London Spirit’s first trophy in The Hundred.

Having opted to bowl first, Spirit were initially sloppy — too often straying down the leg side — but they were soon into their work, Tara Norris seeing the back off Sophia Dunkley for two.

With a new batter at the crease, Charlie Dean tightened the screw — conceding no runs from her first five balls — before her leg-spinning colleague Sarah Glenn struck the first decisive blows of the game, removing Tammy Beaumont (22) and Sarah Bryce for a duck across three balls.

That brought Hayley Matthews and Jess Jonassen together and they utilised every ounce of their international experience to rebuild Fire‘s innings from a potentially perilous 32 for three.

Matthews added 22 before nicking Eva Gray behind, but boosted her side’s total to 84 for four by that point.

Jonassen carried on to make a fine 54, the backbone of her Fire’s 115 for eight from their 100 balls to set a defendable total.

Meg Lanning has made a habit of getting Spirit ahead of the run-rate, but she lasted only nine ball after South African speedster Ismail proved too good for the former Australian captain when dismissing her for four.

It began a trend of Ismail taking key wickets in her three for 24 as Fire fought gamely to defend their 115.

Running in hard and using the slope to her advantage, she bowled both Heather Knight (24) and Dani Gibson (22) at times when Spirit looked set to accelerate away

Unfortunately for Welsh Fire, Ismail’s heroics were not enough to claim the spoils.

Spirit’s chase was built around Georgia Redmayne, who made a steely 34, and laid the foundations for Knight, Gibson and then Sharma to secure the trophy for London Spirit.

Meerkat Match Hero Redmayne said: “A long time between boundaries, Ismail bowled great and took key wickets.

“I don’t think you ever feel in control in a final, but so proud in front of a record crowd at Lord’s.”

Welsh Fire captain Tammy Beaumont said: “I’m so proud of the girls to fight like they did. At the time-out, it was there to lose. Gutted, we’d have loved to win.

“We’ve got in some good people, Gareth (Breese) and I had a vision to make it more than just a franchise that you turn up to.

“We were 10 light with the bat, but credit to Spirit, they kept taking wickets through the middle.”