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The Timeline: Welsh Fire Women v London Spirit Women

SHIVAM PATHAK looks at the key moments from Sophia Gardens as London Spirit's comfortable victory wasn't quite enough to avoid elimination from the tournament

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Shivam Pathak | 18/08/2021 at 17:00

Scorecard

London Spirit finished their Hundred campaign with a victory over Welsh Fire, but fell short of the margin required to send themselves into the Eliminator.

Welsh Fire were put into bat first and collapsed in the middle sets, failing to set a three digit total.

Heather Knight's side knew they had to get it done in 41 balls, which they couldn't achieve with solid bowling from the hosts - they indeed still won with some 42 balls to spare.

Here's how it happened...

Heather Knight wins the toss for London Spirit, and unsurprisingly elects to bowl first - explaining they'd prefer to know what they have to do with the bat if they are to get the massive run rate victory they need. We'll know the exact equation as the second innings gets underway.

Ball 5: Four to end the set! A touch too short from Charlie Dean, angling away towards the leg stump, and Bryony Smith shuffles across and flicks off the back pad through fine leg for four. 7-0

Ball 6: Same again! This time it's Freya Davies who comes into bowl - and just like the previous ball it's shorter on leg, allowing Davies to put it through the same point in the field. 11-0

Ball 10: Lofted to mid-on, taken! The Spirit want quick wickets, and have their first. Davies tosses it up on middle, and Smith looks to crunch it over the bowler's head, but can only just fire beyond the ring where Alice Monaghan makes an easy grab. 15-1

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Ball 15: Freebie! Four more. Georgia Redmayne won't mind those, full tosses on middle and she gets the sweep under it, clattering through square leg to the rope. 22-1

Ball 24: Shot! Redmayne again. Freya Davies goes a little bit too short, wider this time, and Redmayne waits before opening the face of the bat and cutting through cover point for four. 35-1 

Ball 35: Big appeal, given! The dangerous Hayley Matthews has to walk here, though she goes with a reluctant smile. Deepti Sharma strikes. Full, middle but a bit of drift, Matthews goes for the sweep but misses. The finger goes up very quickly. 45-2

Ball 36: Edged and gone! How about this!? The London Spirit aren't going out without a fight. Gibson comes into the attack, taking on the new batter Sophie Luff. Wide, short - and Luff chases, but there's a top edge and Tammy Beaumont grabs first ball! 45-3

Ball 45: Straight to mid-on, gone! Sharma again! Alice Macleod goes after four balls - as the Indian spinner changes her length and pace, quicker into the pads, and Macleod looks to get something under it, but not enough to clear Munro at the ring. 50-4

Ball 47: Wicket again! Cleary has to go. This time, Heather Knight brings herself into the attack and gets a reward. Angling in on middle, Piepa Cleary attempts a similar shot to that of Macleod's dismissal - and unfortunately for her it's the same result, as it flies right to midwicket where Sharma snags at knee height. Birmingham Phoenix will be tapping their feet just a little quicker now. 50-5

Ball 61: Georgia Hennessy survives the review! Sophie Munro thought she had struck with her very first ball, but a good use of DRS saves her. Angling in on middle and leg, the bat is beaten and the finger goes up. It looked very good, but ball-tracking does indeed confirm it was missing leg pole. 58-5

Ball 66: Great shot. Needed boundary for the Fire. It's Georgia Redmayne again, who will want to sit through the rest of the innings. Floated up on middle, Redmayne shuffles across and swings over cover, crashing over the rope for four. 69-5

Ball 68: Bowled 'er! She has to go now, though. Commentator's curse? Knight tosses fuller, angling back into the left-hander. She looks to just cut it fine, but it beats the top of her bat, and middle and leg are disturbed. Massive wicket, and the window is open - they can't allow the Fire's tail to wag. 71-6

Ball 76: Four for Katie George. Davies goes short this time, and the middle-order player waits for the bounce before timing the pull shot excellently, hoisting over cow corner to the rope. 76-6

Ball 81: In the air and gone! George has to walk now. Charlie Dean tosses it up full, it straightens and George looks to sweep - she can only fire as far as midwicket, where Gibson is able to wait for the ball and make a routine take. 78-7

Ball 87: Gone! Hennessy is castled. Dean's change of pace does the trick: flatter and quicker, Hennessy shuffles out and looks to clobber over cover - but it creeps under her bat and the bails are lit up. 83-8

Ball 94: Griffiths goes! Dani Gibson is back into the wickets. On a length, Alex Griffiths looks to bludgeon over long-on, but the contact isn't on the middle of the bat, and it sails right to Monaghan who hardly has to move in the ring. 93-9

Well, that was an underwhelming innings from Welsh Fire. Spirit will surely chase this down for the win - but that's not just enough. To progress to the Eliminator on NRR, they'll have to get it done in 41 balls. 

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Ball 5: There's the first boundary! Tammy Beaumont shuffles back to meet Bryony Smith's straighter one, before firing through mid-on for four. 6-0


Ball 12: Lobs straight to the fielder! Chloe Tryon has to walk. Hayley Matthews goes wider this time, and Tryon chases it down - finding the top edge of the bat and it finds Nicole Harvey on the ring. 12-1

Ball 13: Great shot from Knight! Matthews tosses up on the fourth stump area, she waits til the last hour before cracking it through point for four. 16-1

Ball 18: Bowled 'er! Beaumont goes. Piepa Cleary goes shorter this time, it bounces low and it moves in the air - Beaumont tries to get round and hook over the on-side, but is beaten and the bails are dislodged. 23-2

Ball 25: Dottin fires straight to mid-on! Matthews has another one. The slower ball, Dottin naturally wants to try and hit big, and as she swings hard looking for cow corner, it takes a leading edge and sails straight to Piepa Cleary who hardly has to move. 36-3

Balls 31-33: Three fours in a row from Gibson! Excellent batting. All of these are on a length or shorter from Georgia Hennessy, allowing Gibson to pick her spot fast fine leg for the first two, and then for the third stepping out and hammering to the mid-on rope with the bounce. 55-3

Ball 41: Another single taken, and Birmingham Phoenix are into the Eliminator! Spirit can still certainly wrap this up with plenty of time to spare, though. 63-3

Ball 54: Four more from Gibson! They're about to get this done very quickly, regardless. A few of those have come in the last balls. This time, it's fuller from Bryony Smith and she sweeps with some force through square leg. 87-3

Ball 58: Gibson wins it with a four! The requirement to see them through was just a little too much to ask for, but the Spirit finish their campaign with a W. 97-3

Dani Gibson was named Match Hero. She commented: "We're gutted not to get through to the Eliminator - but it was good to get out on a win. We played well this tournament, obviously not well enough, but we're proud of ourselves after that game. We had a really good bowling performance, but we couldn't quite get it going with the bat."

 "It's amazing to be able to have played with some big names, and learn from them. They teach you everything you need, so it's great to experience that. Our home ground being Lord's is just amazing and the crowds we got there were fantastic. It's been such a great tournament and I can't wait for next year", she added.

Tammy Beaumont, Spirit wicket-keeper, though while happy with her team's performance was still disappointed. "We probably left ourselves with too much to do today", she said. "It's always a big ask to know you have to get something in about 40 balls  and everything go our way. You don't want to finish fourth, you'd rather give it a good go. It didn't quite come off, but at least we got the win, and we can hold our heads high knowing that we tried."

"We haven't really had one game click for us the whole way through. We've had a few contributions with the bat, but nothing major. The likes of myself, Heather and the overseas players need to look at ourselves and work on that."

Asked about the impact of The Hundred on the women's game, she said: "You can't tell me that women's cricket isn't popular in this country any more! We've seen ridiculous crowds, unbelievable home support, and great viewership on TV. There's so many brilliant stories - like Nicola Harvey today, she's just picked up her child. How good of a role model is that for women?"

On what could be changed for the women's game, Beaumont suggested: "Get more players on contracts, make them full-time professionals - a lot of these girls are going back to work next week."

"If we can make as many girls, like Gibson, Dean, as possible into professionals, the standard will keep on rising."

Welsh Fire 95-9 off 100 balls

London Spirit 96-3 off 58 balls

London Spirit win!

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