They won’t come any easier than that in this year’s Hundred. Manchester Super Giants crushed London Spirt by 7 wickets with 41 balls to spare to win the tournament’s opening game at Lord’s on Thursday afternoon.
Put into bat on what London Spirit captain Charlie Dean described as a ‘tricky wicket’, the home side were 23/4 at the end of the Power Play and never looked likely to post a competitive score.
Promoted to open the batting Aussie Grace Harris smashed the opening ball of the game bowled by left armer Grace Ballinger down the ground for four. Were we about to see one of those explosive knocks from Harris? Sadly, not as by the fifth ball she had been caught at mid on for the same score. Fellow opener Amy Jones was out first ball and after 15 balls London Spirit were 6/2.
Ballinger, a winner in the Hundred last season for the Northern Supercharges bowled an especially tight line offering no width to the Spirit batters and along with fellow opening bowler Maitlan Brown London Spirit were left floundering in those early exchanges. Mixed with young former England Test player Ryana MacDonald Gay and England star Sophie Ecclestone, London Spirit were 48/6 after 50 balls.
Such was the control exerted by the Super Giants even the renowned hard hitting South African batter Nadine De Klerk could not increase the tempo. The only batter to show intent was number 4 Marizanne Kapp who struck 17 off 12 balls including a spell of 16 in four balls.
De Klerk was out for 10 off 18 balls when she swung widely across the line to the impressive MacDonald Gay who had earlier removed Kapp. She finished with 4/17. After De Klerk was eighth out all hopes of a three figure score was over.
MacDonald Gay agreed there was something in it for the bowlers. “We bowled really clinically with the ball, everyone did their jobs and they put so much pressure on up top”.
Whilst the wicket did do a bit as Dean admitted after the game London Spirit will need to show more application in the future. “I think when it’s a tricky wicket you need to get up to a score and it doesn’t matter what it looks like. I think we could have dug a little deeper today but that’s something we need to chat about as a group and hopefully we can make amends going forward,” said Dean.
To be bowled out for 80 off 91 balls with 61 dots tells a story. Ballinger and Ecclestone had such a stranglehold on proceedings that they only conceded 16 runs from their 40 balls. London Spirit failed to score off 32 balls bowled by the Ballinger/Ecclestone combination. You cannot win a game in The Hundred with those statistics.
The only positive for the home side came via Marizanne Kapp a double winner for the Oval Invincibles who dismissed Indian opener Smriti Mandhana (17) and Grace Scrivens (first ball duck) in successive balls to leave the Super Giant’s 34/2 after 30 balls. ““She’s there to take wickets at the top and that’s what she did. She’s brilliant and she creates chances for us,” said Dean
However, a steady innings for 21 (24 balls) by Aussie legend and skipper Meg Lanning kept the visitors on track and some end of innings fireworks by Paige Scholfield 22 not out off 15 balls and Indian wicket keeper Richa Ghosh 15 not off 5 balls sped the Super Giants to victory.
Despite the heavy defeat, London Spirit skipper Charlie Dean wasn’t too despondent at the end of the game. “We’ve got a way in which we want to play and that probably wasn’t shown today but I really love the girls in this dressing room, and I think we are going to bounce back really well. I think it’s going to be a really good season for us. So, I think that it’s one of those games we need to park and learn from quickly. The games come thick and fast so being able to bounce back is important,” said Dean
Player of the Match – Ryana MacDonald Gay 4/17 including the key wicket of Marizanne Kapp. She was forced to pull out in the early part of last year’s Hundred with a back injury but after being out for an extended period she is now fit and bowling with confidence following a successful return in the Vitality Blast with Surrey. One to watch, the 22 year old will surely add to her five England international appearances.
Manchester Super Giants 86/3 beat London Spirit 80 all out by 7 wickets