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London Spirit bolstered their hopes of reaching The Hundred knockout stages with a crushing eight-wicket win over city rivals Oval Invincibles.
Victory was built on an outstanding display with the ball and in the field with captain Charlie Dean and seamer Eva Gray the standouts, both taking 2-12.
The already-eliminated Invincibles limped to 108-8 from their 100 balls before Kira Chathli and Georgia Redmayne powered Spirit to the win.
Chathli – who initially went unsold in the draft – continued her fine campaign and brought up a 26-ball half-century with a six.
She fell for 53 from 29 balls with just two needed, moments after Redmayne, who made 42 from 30, had also been dismissed, but Charli Knott finished the job for Spirit with a whopping 38 balls to spare.
After defeats in their past two games, Spirit’s return to form sees them move four points clear of Manchester Originals in fourth and ends Trent Rockets’ chances of making the eliminator.
Spirit must now hope Originals lose to Northern Superchargers on Tuesday otherwise the two places in the eliminator will be decided by net run-rate.
Spirit bowlers set up crucial victory
After choosing to bowl first in such a crucial game, it was essential the Spirit attack were on it against a powerful Invincibles top order.
They did not disappoint and debutant Kate Coppack could have had a wicket with her first ball when Meg Lanning edged behind, only for wicketkeeper Redmayne to put down a tough chance diving to her right.
Patience was required with a breakthrough not immediately forthcoming but they stuck to their plans with impressive discipline.
Dean and Gray led the way, conceding just seven runs between them in the last 15 balls of the powerplay then, just as the Invincibles openers began to look settled, the skipper removed Lanning.
When another partnership between Alice Capsey and Marizanne Kapp started to threaten, it was Gray’s turn to break it.
The seamer was outstanding. She didn’t bowl a single delivery wide outside off with 75% of her deliveries tight to the stumps and the remaining 25% in the channel outside off.
Pressure built, wickets followed – with Dean’s one-handed stunner the pick of a number of superb catches – and Dean and Gray finished with just two wickets apiece, their exceptional control no doubt helped create others.
By the time they were done, Invincibles had been kept to a total never looked like troubling the Spirit batters.
What is happening on Tuesday?
It’s another derby day tomorrow as Northern Superchargers take on Manchester Originals at Headingley.
You will be able to watch both games lives on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer with coverage of the women’s match starting at 14:45 BST and the men’s following at 18:00 BST.
You can follow ball-by-ball commentary on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport website and app.
