London Spirit held off the charge of Trent Rockets under lights at Lord’s to register their second win and throw The Hundred men’s competition wide open.

The win takes them into a five-way tie at the top, while for Rockets, their hopes of peeling off a third consecutive run-chase to go outright top were dashed as Spirit held their nerve to clinch it by 21 runs.

Despite the final winning margin, at the midway point of the Rockets’ chase the game was beautifully poised. Tom Banton and Joe Root had carved out 69 for the first wicket, with Banton having just launched Dan Worrall for an 89-metre six.

But when Jamie Overton removed Banton in eccentric fashion, the opener angling a dab onto his own stumps to depart for 46, Spirit got to work. The next set, delivered by Worrall, swung the game decisively – David Willey and then Rehan Ahmed falling in the space of three balls, the latter clean-bowled by a beautiful away cutter.

Five balls later, when Root mistimed his sweep shot against Liam Dawson to fall for 27, the Rockets had lost four wickets in 14 deliveries, all but ending their chances of hauling in a record chase at Lord’s in the Hundred. Some muscular hitting from Marcus Stoinis at the death was too little too late.

Spirit’s pace attack of Overton, Worrall, Luke Wood and Richard Gleeson, who sent down this year’s fastest tournament delivery to date – a 94.1mph yorker – hunted brilliantly as a pack.

With the bat, Jamie Smith was the star man for Spirit. Promoted to open he was irresistible, going to his half-century in 32 balls and sharing a 73-run partnership with Kane Williamson, the pair laying the platform for Ashton Turner to pump a quickfire 16-ball 30 at the death.

Meerkat Match Hero Smith said: “It’s been difficult at times at home for us, so to come out here and get a win here in front of a fantastic crowd is really important and steps us on for the next few games we’ve got coming up here.

“Our seamers took the pace off, and we used the ground dimensions really nicely, and most importantly we kept taking wickets, which stemmed the flow for them.

“It’s nice to get some runs, especially on a new ground and playing for a new team. It’s good to start well, and we’ve got a quality team. I just need to keep building the relationships with the guys at the top of the order, David Warner and Kane Williamson, and the players we’ve got throughout.”

Brief scores:
London Spirit 162 for 5 in 100 balls (Jamie Smith 52, Kane Williamson 45, Ashton Turner 30, Ollie Pope 17; Sam Cook 1-36, Lockie Ferguson 1-38, Marcus Stoinis 2-27, Rehan Ahmed 1-20) beat Trent Rockets 141 for 6 in 100 balls  (Tom Banton 46, Joe Root 27, David Willey 11, Marcus Stoinis 35; Daniel Worrall 2-32, Richard Gleeson 2-36, Liam Dawson 1-30, Jamie Overton 1-14) by 21 runs

[Cricinfo]