London Spirit began their new era with double defeat at Lord’s on the opening day of the Hundred, as both their men’s and women’s sides lost to Manchester Super Giants. The men were beaten by seven runs after Liam Livingstone nearly pulled off a stunning chase, while the women lost by seven wickets after being bowled out for 80.
How did the men’s match unfold?
Spirit’s men were beaten 138-9 to 131-6 by seven runs, making it the fifth time in their six-year history that they have started a season with defeat. Livingstone, the Spirit captain, took responsibility for 20 of the last 25 balls of Manchester Super Giants’ innings, handling what should have been the hardest part of the bowling burden, and finished with two wickets for just 14 runs.
With his side chasing 139 and struggling, Livingstone then scored 69 off 40 to keep Spirit in the contest until he swung at the antepenultimate delivery and was bowled by Sonny Baker. The innings had been helped by a string of drops and misfields from the Super Giants, most notably when Livingstone heaved Noor Ahmad to deep midwicket and Tim Seifert, whose 67 off 45 ultimately decided the match, let the ball bounce off his hands and into the boundary padding for six.
On the pitch that had four days earlier allowed England and India to score 747 runs between them in an ODI, batters in both games struggled, and even Seifert was only dominant for part of his innings. Super Giants’ knock was unusual, with 26 runs and one wicket coming in the first 25 balls, six wickets falling for just 22 in the final 26, and 90 runs scored at nearly two runs a ball in between.
What was happening around Lord’s?
Of the crowd of 23,847, some will have come for the women’s game, some for the men, and others presumably for early-noughties chart-topping rapper Tinie Tempah, though it seems extraordinarily unlikely that anyone will have shelled out the £55 required for an adult ticket to watch 20 minutes of twixt-game entertainment. From pony racing to spear-throwing, from being requisitioned by the RAF to as a Test opener, Lord’s has seen many unlikely sights over the years, and Tempah’s appearance, with jets of fire screaming skywards behind him, was another to add to the list.
Despite at one stage uttering the dreaded words
“Lord’s, this is a brand new one”, he produced a masterclass in scepticism-obliteration. He spent very little of the performance on his heavily branded stage, instead wading into the crowd to hug mildly bemused paunchy white blokes.
“He was,”Eoin Morgan later enthused on Sky,
“magnificent.”This may not have been the future Tempah envisaged when Pass Out was conquering the charts 16 years ago, but it was one he embraced with winning enthusiasm.
What else did the ECB announce?
Southampton’s Utilita Bowl will host a men’s Ashes Test for the first time next year, with the men’s and women’s series against Australia again running concurrently, the England and Wales Cricket Board announced. Trent Bridge will host the first men’s Test, starting on 18 June, while the first match of the multi-format women’s series, the sole Test match, begins at Headingley on 24 June.
Southampton will host the fourth men’s Test starting on 21 July. England last played a Test match at the venue, also known as the Rose Bowl, in 2020 when Pakistan were the opposition during the Covid pandemic. The World Test Championship final was also played there in 2021 when New Zealand beat India.
A packed summer of cricket in England will also include 10 ODIs for the England men’s team, the final of the World Test Championship at London’s Oval and England men’s Mixed Disability team hosting Australia. The men’s and women’s Ashes were also held at the same time in England in 2023, boosting crowds for the women’s fixtures.
What is the full Ashes schedule?
The England and Wales Cricket Board announced the following schedule:
1st Test - June 18-22 - Trent Bridge
2nd Test - June 30-July 4 - Lord’s
3rd Test - July 8-12 - Edgbaston
4th Test - July 21-25 - Southampton
5th Test - July 29-August 2 - London Oval
Test - June 24-27 - Headingley
How did the women’s match end?
It was not so much Pass Out as fail and out for London Spirit’s women, even if they started beautifully, with Grace Harris hitting the opening delivery for four. That was very much as good as it got: by the end of the powerplay they were 23 for four and had to reset their ambitions to mere survival.
In the end they did not manage that, bowled out after 91 balls having scored just 80. No team in the history of the women’s Hundred has successfully defended a score below 106, and Spirit never looked likely to become the first. Super Giants cantered to the target in just 59 balls to win by seven wickets, with Paige Scholfield carrying her side over the finish line with a four and a six off successive Josie Groves deliveries and in the process becoming the game’s top scorer with just 22.
Key Facts
- Manchester Super Giants beat London Spirit men by seven runs, 138-9 to 131-6.
- London Spirit women were beaten by seven wickets after making 80 in 91 balls.
- Liam Livingstone scored 69 off 40 and took two wickets for 14 runs.
- Tim Seifert scored 67 off 45 for the men’s winners.
- The ECB announced Southampton’s Utilita Bowl will host a men’s Ashes Test for the first time in 2026.
