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Lord’s, London: The new Manchester Super Giants (formerly Manchester Originals) did a double over London Spirit in the two side’s opening fixtures in the 2026 Hundred at Lord’s Cricket Ground on July 23.
In the afternoon, a 4/17 from Ryana Macdonald-Gay restricted London to a measly 80 and was chased down with ease for an early finish. The evening game offered a more tense contest. Following a collapse with the bat from Manchester, Liam Livingstone looked to see out the chase for the home side, but a spectacular finish from Sonny Baker helped Manchester steal the win.
Meg Lanning won the toss and elected to field first for Manchester Super Giants. Despite the humidity and warmth in the air, the overcast conditions and greener Lord’s center pitch clearly were the perfect ingredients for a bowler’s paradise, and what a paradise it was.
Starting with a confident swing straight down the ground, Grace Harris departed just a couple deliveries later against Grace Ballinger, half-heartedly executing a drive to float it to Sophie Ecclestone at mid-on. Maitland Brown joined Ballinger from the same nursery end, sending back Amy Jones with Richa Ghosh catching behind, after dropping Marie Kelly a ball earlier. South Africa’s Marizanna Kapp went berserk on the switch of ends, hoping to shake off the poor start for Spirit, scoring 16 against Brown.
However, she and Kelly fell to the slow swing of Ryana Macdonald-Gay, ending Spirit’s powerplay on 23/4. It would soon be 28/5, as Deandra Dottin was bowled by Ecclestone. Nadine de Klerk and Charis Pavely crawled forward, trying to maintain run a ball, and notching a 20-run partnership. That stand was broken courtesy of Mady Villiers, who forced Pavely down the pitch for Ghosh to complete the stumping. Fortunately for London, a tumble didn’t follow as de Klerk stuck around, this time with captain Charlie Dean who kept up a sporadic attack.
Their efforts dragged past the point of the lowest total in Hundred history, but ultimately a solid total never seemed to be on the cards, as they were bowled out for 80, their joint lowest total in the Hundred, thanks to Macdonald-Gay returning to the attack, finishing with 4/17.
Manchester opened with Lanning and Smriti Mandhana, arguably two of the best batters in the women’s game in the last decade and a half, and appropriate to their pedigree, got going fairly comfortably. Following a decent powerplay, Kapp brought in a double whammy. First with an LBW dismissal of Mandhana after reviewing the umpire’s not out call, and in the very next delivery, bowled Grace Scrivens with an almost identical ball.
The target however just did not seem threatening for Super Giants, and Lanning and Paige Scholfield kept on chipping away, scoring the occasional boundary. Lanning unfortunately would not see the chase through, edging Hannah Rainey high to find Harris’ safe hands on the leg on 21. All the wicket did however was just speed up the chase for Manchester. Ghosh came in and played her role of finisher, inspiring Scholfield to also strike big, as the Super Giants won by seven wickets and 41 balls remaining.
Following the long break between the two breaks, where fans were treated to a brief concert from UK rapper Tinie Tempah, Liam Livingstone won the toss and decided to put his London Spirit side to bowl first.
The clouds from the afternoon had dissipated, and the sun shined well through, but the Lord’s track remained bowler friendly just as ever. David Willey and Adam Milne troubled Manchester captain Aiden Markram for a good ten deliveries, till a move in from Milne saw him get LBW for just one run. Keepers Tim Seifert and Jos Buttler got the Super Giants to recover after their skipper’s slow and short stay on the pitch.
It was the change to Adam Zampa’s spin that shifted the momentum back for London, as the leg spinner bowled a perfect slider to strike Buttler’s stumps, ending the partnership. Seifert continued his lone ranger innings, completing his half century in 29 balls, keeping Manchester on track for a formidable total. Heinrich Klaasen provided steady support, but when approaching the final quarter, he tried turning up the slog, misreading Willey’s slower one and getting caught by Livingstone in extra cover.
From that point at 105/4, the Super Giants collapsed, losing wickets in desperation. Seifert’s solo efforts ended on 67 courtesy of James Coles, and regardless of the occasional boundaries, blind running and swinging could get Manchester up to just 138/9.
South Africa’s young sensation Lhuan-dre Pretorius got off to a promising start going on the charge against the pace of Sonny Baker. But his hubris got the better of him as he pulled it high, facing Gus Atkinson, finding Leus Du Plooy at the edge of the 30-yard circle. Atkinson’s fellow English international Josh Tongue then struck next on his very first delivery, forcing James Rew to square it to Atkinson himself at short third.
Standing on 24/2 at the end of the powerplay, Super Giants had London under their thumbs. But the taking off of Atkinson and Tongue saw them lose their grip, as Kiran Carlson and Livingstone went on the attack. The eagerness to slog however ended Carlson’s debut Hundred innings, as Dawson spun past him to crash the ball into the stumps.
Pressure kept changing hands after each five deliveries as Manchester’s spinners inconsistently seemed untouchable or bowled right in the slot for Livingstone or Dewald Brevis to pick up a boundary. The threat of a wicket was not coming from Manchester, but neither was a settled status from London’s batters as we were in a deadlock approaching the death.
Livingstone and Brevis brought up their 50-run partnership in 34 balls, and the pair were looking like they could see out the chase. Their timing was immaculate, but Manchester’s strategically placed field kept out the boundaries, increasing the required run rate. Livingstone notched up his half century in 32 balls, quite the captain’s knock. The job was not yet done and Atkinson struck at a crucial point, dismissing Brevis with a caught-and-bowled in the penultimate five deliveries.
We were down to a nail-biting conclusion, 12 runs needed in the final five. Baker was given the responsibility to bowl them, and he laughed in the face of pressure, ending Livingstone’s fabulous innings on 69. The pinpoint death bowling left London speechless, as Baker took yet another on the final ball, sealing the win for Manchester by seven runs.
What they said
Charlie Dean, London Spirit W captain: “Lord’s pitch is always a bit easier to chase on, so losing the toss was not ideal. But equally, I think we could have batted a bit better on a pitch that offered a little bit for seam and spin. But yeah, I think we never have enough runs really to defend.”
“We’ve had a really good couple of days running in the lead-in to this, so we feel really prepared and ready to give it a go today. 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 that we’re going to bounce back really well.”
Ryana Macdonald-Gay, Manchester Super Giants W: “Yeah, it was excellent, I think we bowled really clinically with the ball, everyone did their jobs and they put so much pressure on up top and then I think with the bat we were really clinical and then to full reacher to finish off the end it was amazing.”
(On a possible international return) “I’m definitely hoping that I’ve put my name in the case, like, you know, it’s always, always trying to compete and just play the best for the team that I’m playing for and, you know, I can only do the best I can, so if that makes Lottie (Charlotte Edwards) watch then, like, that’s great, but yeah, definitely hoping to put my name in the fray there.”
Sonny Baker, Manchester Super Giants M: (On his final over) “I think often I’d go to yorkers, that’s probably one of my super strengths is banging people in the feet. But given the context of the wicket, as the scores would reflect, it’s a relatively tricky surface. So that was the thinking behind holding length for as long as we can.”
(On his side’s fielding) “I mean, I think we probably picked it up in the field, myself included. Obviously, I was on my ice skates out there at the back end on the boundary. But after that drinks break we had, I think as a unit we picked up our fielding, which is massive, especially in the depth overs and, you know, with a little bit of dew, it can skid on a little bit, which makes it quite hard.
“Obviously, a good catch from Morley (Tom Moores) right at the end as well. So, yeah, those things can play a massive part.”
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