Oval Invincibles dismantle London Spirit to move to second place in The Hundred

The Hundred at the Oval on Saturday (August 14). Georgia Adams batted through the innings as Invincibles cruised home with 13 balls to spare after restricting Spirit to a moderate total with some exceptional show in the field.

Chasing 104 to win, Invincibles got off to a perfect start with Georgia Adams driving the first ball for four through the off-side. Dane van Niekerk also started in quick fashion as she hit Charlotte Dean for two consecutive boundaries. Just as it looked like the South Africa skipper will make light of the chase, Sophie Munro struck to remove van Niekerk for 13.

Batting at three, Fran Wilson shook off a slow start to hit Munro for back-to-back fours and added another boundary off Dean. Wilson put on 45 runs with Adams for the second wicket and was looking good for more when Tammy Beaumont pulled off an impressive stumping to dismiss a falling Wilson when she went for a reverse sweep.

The dismissal of Wilson didn't affect Adams as she pulled Heather Knight for another four before repeating the feat against Munro. She found  good company in Marizanne Kapp as the pair hit a couple of boundaries each to reduce the target to much less than run-a-ball. Adams looked to bat through the innings and eventually remained not out on 37 off 34.

With only five needed off the last 15 balls, Kapp got on her knees and helped Dean through fine-leg to level the scores before slog sweeping the next ball for the winning boundary to take them to the second position in the points table with their fourth win of the tournament.

Put into bat, Spirit struggled early on against the pace of Shabnim Ismail with Invincibles’ skipper van Niekerk choosing to bowl her for 15 balls in the power play. They soon found themselves one down with Naomi Dattani finding van Niekerk at mid-off off the second ball Ismail bowled.

However, in the final set of the power play, Knight got hold of Ismail with a couple of fours to breathe life into the Spirit innings. That got Knight going and she brought out sweeps and pulls into play against the spinners. Her two fours against Mady Villiers’ first set took Spirit to 47 from 40 balls.

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At the other end, Tammy Beaumont also found her way as she swatted Natasha Farrant through mid-wicket for a four before lofting her over extra-cover for another boundary. Beaumont added another boundary off Grace Gibbs through cover to take the partnership to 75.

Just as it looked like Spirit were ready for the final assault with the score reading 80 for one, Knight departed when she top-edged a sweep against young Alice Capsey. That was the break Invincibles needed and they lifted their effort on the field remarkably post Knight's dismissal.

From there, Spirit needed Beaumont to bat through but Joanne Gardner had other ideas. Beaumont skipped down the track to hit it to mid-off and set off for a run as Gardner picked it up to beat Beaumont with a hard, flat through as the England opener found herself short of the crease.

It went from bad to worse for Spirit as Marizanne Kapp trapped Danielle Gibson in front for a duck before Capsey returned to castle Deandra Dottin for just two. They couldn’t find a single boundary in the last 41 balls and crumbled to finish on 103 for nine – losing eight wickets for just 23 runs – in their stipulated 100 balls.

For Invincibles, all the bowlers returned with impressive figures with Kapp and Capsey taking two wickets each. The Oval fielders backed it up with three run outs including two direct hits at the non-striking end.

Brief Scores: London Spirit 103/9 in 100 balls (Tammy Beaumont 42, Heather Knight 34; Marizanne Kapp 2/12, Alice Capsey 2/15) lost to Oval Invincibles 107/2 in 87 balls (Georgia Adams 37*, Marizanne Kapp 23*) by 8 wickets POTM: Georgia Adams