The Hundred: Sean Abbott bowling brilliance helps Birmingham Phoenix down London Spirit in Lord’s thriller

Sean Abbott produced an eye-catching performance with the ball to inspire Birmingham Phoenix to a three-wicket victory over London Spirit in a Hundred thriller at Lord’s which went down to the penultimate ball.

Abbott claimed 4-14 from his 20 deliveries – the 10th-best men’s figures in the history of The Hundred – as Phoenix restricted their hosts to 127-7, and the Australian all-rounder was there at the finish as his side snuck home with one delivery to spare.

Asked to bat first, Spirit slumped to 30-5 after Tim Southee trapped Daniel Bell-Drummond lbw with his first delivery and Abbott saw off Michael Pepper, Adam Rossington, Dan Lawrence and Ryan Higgins in the space of eight balls.

Rossington fell victim to an early catch-of-the-tournament contender from Dan Mousley, who prevented a six by flicking the ball back over the boundary rope while in mid-air, before then diving full length to complete the dismissal.

Shimron Hetmyer briefly flickered but fell for 16 after top-edging Benny Howell to Adam Milne before Liam Dawson (36 from 34) and Andre Russell (37 not out from 20) mounted a recovery. Russell hit four sixes in a typically brutal knock which included three maximums off the final set of the innings, bowled by Milne.

Phoenix also struggled against the ­new ball, slipping to 20-4 after Dan Worrall claimed two early breakthroughs including the crucial wicket of Moeen Ali for a duck. Liam Livingstone was unlucky to be run out by Olly Stone at the non-striker’s end before the young guns Mousley (39 from 38) and Jacob Bethell (43 from 27) took charge.

The visitors stuttered when both players were dismissed with the finishing line in sight but Howell (24 not out from 12) held his nerve, smashing the penultimate ball of the match over extra-cover to seal the win with Abbott, the Meerkat Match Hero, standing at the non-striker’s end.

Player of the match – Sean Abbott

“The feedback from the guys who opened up was that it was doing a little bit so I was just trying to present the seam and hit the top of the stumps. Keeping the run rate down is the most important thing and if you can pick up some wickets along the way then that’s a bonus.

“The first two games have favoured the bowlers. We didn’t expect as much seam movement at this time of the year.

“It was nice to be out there at the end. I was chuffed for Benny, he played really well again tonight. It wasn’t the easiest wicket and the two young blokes [Mousley and Bethell] did pretty well to get us close to home.”

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.