Spirit edge past Fire to win The Hundred

The Hundred women's competition final, Lord's

Welsh Fire 115-8 (100 balls): Jonassen 54 (41); Glenn 2-17, Gray 2-26

London Spirit 118-6 (98 balls): Redmayne 34 (32); Ismail 3-24

Spirit won by four wickets

Scorecard

London Spirit won The Hundred for the first time after a thrilling four-wicket victory over Welsh Fire in the final at Lord's.

Set 116 to win, it came down to four needed from the last three balls before Deepti Sharma lofted Hayley Matthews over long-on for six.

It could all have been so different, though, as the ball burst through the hands of Fire bowler Shabnim Ismail and over the rope.

Ismail had looked like being the match-winner for Fire, taking 3-24 as she bowled Meg Lanning, Heather Knight and Danielle Gibson to keep her side in contention.

However, there was just too much on Deepti's decisive strike as Spirit claimed the trophy on their home ground.

Knight's team were on top at the halfway stage after an excellent bowling display, led by England spinners Sarah Glenn and Charlie Dean, restricted Fire to 115-8 despite a fine half-century from Australia all-rounder Jess Jonassen.

The pressure of the chase began to tell on Spirit until Gibson came in and struck five fours from her first six balls to give her side the momentum.

But when she was bowled by Ismail and opener Georgia Redmayne was trapped lbw by Freya Davies, the game duly went to the wire and Deepti was on hand to deliver the telling blow with two balls to spare.

Spinners set Spirit on way to win

Deepti got the moment of glory with the bat but it was her fellow Spirit spinners who laid the foundations on a slow surface at the home of cricket.

Charlie Dean conceded just one run from her first 10 balls and, with the pressure building, Sarah Glenn removed Fire skipper Tammy Beaumont with her second delivery and dismissed Sarah Bryce two balls later to make it 32-3.

Jonassen and Matthews managed to rebuild the innings with a vital 52-run partnership but boundaries were hard to come by and, although the Australian batted through until the penultimate ball of the innings, the total appeared light.

That afforded Spirit the luxury of being able to have quieter spells in the chase and stay in touch, with Redmayne calmly keeping the score ticking over.

At one stage, it seemed she and Knight may produce a repeat of their match-winning partnership in the Eliminator but Ismail put paid to that.

However, that disappointment was soon shrugged off as Gibson, in the space of nine balls, swung the match back in Spirit’s favour.

Fire responded to give a crowd of 22,009 - a record for a women’s match in The Hundred – a grandstand finish before Deepti seized her moment.

'I was feeling sick' - reaction

London Spirit captain Heather Knight: "It was tense, wasn't it?! It feels so good. I'm an awful watcher. When I'm out there I'm fine but I was feeling sick for the last 20 or 30 balls.

"I'm so pleased for the girls and the coaching staff. Deepti made a bit of a meal of it in the end and kept us on tenterhooks when the six just went over! I'm just so delighted."

Welsh Fire captain Tammy Beaumont: "I'm so proud of the girls to fight like they did.

"When I called the timeout and they needed less than a run ball at that point, 30 balls left, it was theirs to lose really but we fought and really gave it a good crack and took it to that last set."