Jofra Archer took season-best figures of 4-9 as Southern Brave beat London Spirit by five wickets in a low-scoring men's Hundred match at Lord's. Archer's spell helped dismiss Spirit for 105 inside 92 balls before David Miller finished an uneasy chase to secure the win.
How did London Spirit's innings unfold?
London Spirit were 44-1 after being put into bat, with opener Jonny Bairstow making 56 from 43 balls and James Rew contributing 11, which was the home side's joint second-highest score. A first flurry of wickets left Spirit 68-5, with Rew bowled by Adil Rashid and Dewald Brevis, who made 1, caught by Chris Jordan off Archer among those to depart.
Bairstow added 35 for the sixth wicket with Jamie Overton, who made 10, before his dismissal, again caught by Jordan off Archer, triggered an innings-ending collapse. Spirit lost their final five wickets for two runs in seven balls, with Archer removing David Willey and Andrew Tye with his last two deliveries.
Marcus Stoinis finished the innings off with figures of 3-17, having Overton and Adam Zampa caught from his following two deliveries to wrap up Spirit's total.
How did Southern Brave complete the chase?
Southern Brave's reply began strongly through Jamie Smith, who struck 36 from 22 balls, but his opening partner Ben McKinney was bowled by Willey for a golden duck. Smith was then trapped lbw by James Coles, and Brave wobbled badly as they lost three wickets for five runs to slip to 60-5, still needing 46 from 48 balls.
David Miller steadied the chase with an unbeaten 39 from 28 balls and shared an unbroken 51-run stand with fellow South African Tristan Stubbs, who finished on 12 not out. Miller, who struggled with a hand injury during the latter part of his innings, hit Liam Livingstone for six to level the scores and then cleared the boundary again four balls later to end the match.
Brave won by five wickets and moved up three places to fourth in the table, one of four teams on eight points. Spirit dropped one place to seventh with one win from four games.
How did Joe Root help Welsh Fire beat Birmingham Phoenix?
Joe Root scored an unbeaten half-century to guide Welsh Fire to a controlled seven-wicket victory over bottom side Birmingham Phoenix in the other men's Hundred match at Edgbaston. In his first match since being reappointed as England's Test captain on Thursday, Root struck each of his first three deliveries for four and top-scored with 58 not out from 40 balls as Fire chased 138 with four balls to spare.
Root shared a 77-run first-wicket partnership with Phil Salt, who hit four sixes in his 46 from 36 balls. Salt survived being caught off the third ball of the innings after bowler Saqib Mahmood was penalised for a front-foot no-ball, but had no luck when he reviewed his lbw dismissal.
Rachin Ravindra was also out lbw before Jordan Cox was bowled by Mahmood for 20 from 14 balls with Welsh Fire six runs short of victory. Root fittingly hit the winning runs, reverse-scooping for four before jogging the winning single.
A third win of the summer moved Welsh Fire from fifth to second in the table, trailing Trent Rockets on net run-rate. Birmingham Phoenix have now lost three consecutive matches since winning their opener and remain eighth.
What happened in Birmingham Phoenix's innings?
Electing to bat first, Phoenix raced beyond 50 inside the powerplay, with Joe Clarke dispatching Sam Cook's final five balls for 20 runs. Their innings then collapsed from 53-1 to 79-5, including a spell of three wickets for nine runs.
Cox completed two relay catches on the boundary to account for Mitch Owen and Clarke, who top-scored with 35 from 23 balls. Poor decision-making also saw Laurie Evans and Rehan Ahmed run out in quick succession.
Donovan Ferreira provided brief momentum, hitting Ravindra for back-to-back sixes before holing out for 23 from 21 balls. Sean Dickson, Chris Wood and Scott Currie also departed as Phoenix limped to 137-9, with Lockie Ferguson and Marco Jansen finishing with two wickets apiece.
What is happening on Sunday?
There are another four games taking place on Sunday. Trent Rockets host Sunrisers Leeds in the women's competition at Trent Bridge at 11:00 BST, followed by the men's game at 14:30.
Later, MI London face Manchester Originals at The Oval, with the women's match at 14:30 and the men's match at 18:00. Both of those games will be live on BBC Two and BBC .
For all four matches, ball-by-ball commentary will be available on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, and the website and app.
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Key Facts
- Jofra Archer took season-best figures of 4-9 as Southern Brave beat London Spirit by five wickets at Lord's.
- London Spirit were bowled out for 105 inside 92 balls, with Jonny Bairstow scoring 56 from 43 balls.
- David Miller finished unbeaten on 39 from 28 balls as Brave chased 106 with five wickets down.
- Joe Root made 58 not out as Welsh Fire beat Birmingham Phoenix by seven wickets at Edgbaston.
- Welsh Fire moved from fifth to second, while Birmingham Phoenix remained eighth after a third straight defeat.
