Reigning champions London Spirit made it three from three as they downed Manchester Originals in a nail-biter at Emirates Old Trafford, Grace Harris’s beautifully paced unbeaten 50 the stand-out performance.

Brimming with confidence, Spirit won the toss and elected to bowl first, enjoying a dream start as Georgia Redmayne brilliantly caught Kathryn Bryce down the leg side before Melie Kerr was needlessly run out going for a non-existent second from a free hit.

Beth Mooney counterpunched briefly and from 46 for 4 after 39 balls and Originals batted sensibly, Deandra Dottin mixing solid defence with the occasional blazing strike. She was well supported by Fi Morris and Alice Monaghan to take the home side to 122 for 6, both Charles Dean and Sarah Glenn going for under a run a ball.

Mahika Gaur bowled 15 of the first 25 balls in reply, finding significant swing and ensuring Originals were still in the game before unleashing their own international class spinners. New Zealand leggie Kerr was at the heart of the action, taking catches to get rid of Kira Chathli and Redmayne and bowling Dani Gibson for a duck.

But Harris was they key, the big-hitting Aussie who struck 89 not out off 42 balls in Spirit’s first-up win against Oval Invincibles, starting steadily as the run rate climbed. A four off a no-ball, followed by a free hit six, took the equation to 30 off 21, which became 16 off the last 10, at which point Harris hit a six just past Monaghan’s outstretched fingers. But Bryce then dismissed Issy Wong and Dean lbw in successive balls to leave the game in the balance.

An edge for four first ball by Glenn made it five needed from the last five, and she hit another boundary off the 98th ball to seal the deal.

Meerkat Match Hero Harris said: “I just thought it was a bit of a trickier wicket to start on, and then once you got in, you could try and cash in at the back end. I thought that’s what Deandra Dottin did really well in that first innings. When we got to about needing 26 runs, I thought we’re pretty good. We’d got wickets in hand; we could try and take the game on a little bit more.

“Credit to our bowlers. I think we’re just really enjoying how we’re playing at the moment. I’m delighted with how I’m going. I think a lot of the principles that I’ve been working on within my game are paying off, and I just keep summing up conditions and whenever I’m injected into the game, I’m seeing what impact I can have.”

Brief scores:
London Spirit Women  124 for 7 in 98 balls  (Kira Chathil 34, Georgia Redmayne 11, Grace Harris 50*, Sarah Glenn 10*;  Mahika Gaur 1-16, Kathryn Bryce 2-26, Amelia Kerr 2-17, Deandra Dottin 1-32, Danielle Gregory 1-04) beat Manchester Originals Women  122 for 6 in 100 balls (Beth Mooney 26, Deandra Dottin 36, Fi Morris 20, Alice Monaghan 18*; Tarra Norris 1-10, Charlie Dean 2-18, Sarah Glenn  1-18, Charli Knott 1-13)  by three wickets

[Cricinfo]