David Willey put on a show as Northern Superchargers (NOS) thrashed rudderless London Spirit (LNS) by 63 runs at Lord’s. The Northern Superchargers’ stand-in captain struck a terrific 81 – the highest individual score in the men’s competition of Hundred – and dismissed London Spirit’s openers. Ben Raine, too, was excellent, picking up a three-wicket haul on his Hundred debut.
Chris Lynn threatened to dominate the bowlers after Northern Superchargers won the toss and elected to bat first. He scored three boundaries in the opening ten balls. But Mohammad Nabi dismissed the opening batsman for 14 in his first set of five. A few deliveries later, Adam Lyth edged to Adam Rossington. The visitors were 28/2 in 27 balls.
The new man Willey got off the mark with a four. The 31-year-old and Harry Brook, who came at No. 3, upped the tempo. Willey struck a six and found the boundary twice as they went past 50 in the 37th ball. Eoin Morgan brought spinners – Nabi and Mason Crane – into the attack, but Brook and Willey maintained the scoring rate.
In the 62nd ball, Crane got rid of Brook and broke the half-century stand. Meanwhile, the stand-in captain brought up his fifty with a six. Dane Vilas hit successive boundaries in Mohammad Amir’s third set of five. Willey scored 23 runs in the final six balls, including two sixes off Amir, to post a challenging total of 155.
London Spirit found themselves in a spot of bother early in the run-chase as they lost both the openers in the space of six balls. Brook took a brilliant catch to dismiss Rossington, while Inglis fell for just 2. The early setback left Morgan and debutant Luis Reece a mountain to climb. They only managed 17 runs in the powerplay.
Morgan hammered a six and a four in Carse’s first set of five, and Reece welcomed Rashid with two sixes. Raine halted London Spirit’s momentum after picking up the wicket of fellow debutant Reece, who holed out to Lyth at mid-off for 24. All-rounder Nabi lasted only four balls, while Rashid grabbed Morgan and Joe Denly in his third set of five. London Spirit needed 93 runs from 30 balls
Roelof van der Merwe hit a few boundaries, but it wasn’t enough as the asking rate climbed out of control. Meanwhile, Raine clinched the wickets of Ravi Bopara and Cullen in quick succession. Overseas bowler Amir, too, perished quickly, and Mujeeb ended up with figures of 2/6 in 20 balls. London Spirit could only muster 92/9 in their 100 balls.
NOS 155/3 in 100 balls (D Willey 81*, H Brook 28; M Crane 1/19)
LNS 92/9 in 100 balls (E Morgan 27; B Raine 3/20, M Ur Rahman 2/6)
Player of the Match
Willey produced an inspirational performance to guide his team to a second win in the 100-ball tournament. He hit six sixes and three fours and also constantly rotated the strike. The left-arm pacer punished Amir and Cullen by scoring five sixes off the London Spirit pacers. With the ball, he set the tone early after removing the openers cheaply. The home side never really recovered from that poor start and succumbed to a heavy defeat.
Top Fantasy XI
D Willey (164 pts), B Raine (81 pts), M Ur Rahman (68 pts), A Rashid (64 pts), H Brook (52 pts), D Vilas (45 pts), E Morgan (35 pts), M Crane (35 pts), B Cullen (35 pts), L Reece (33 pts), M Nabi (31 pts)
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Parameswaran Sankaranarayanan
Parameswaran Sankaranarayan is a sports enthusiast who has worked in print, website, and other digital platforms. He was part of the editorial team of first-ever Indian football-based website - IndianFootball.com (now defunct) - and passionately follows the latest happenings in world football. During his time as a journalist, he had the opportunity to interact with some of the iconic personalities in Indian sports and witness some memorable moments in Indian football.
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