Glenn Phillips rescues Welsh Fire with stunning knock
New Zealand batter's 80 off 35 keeps Fire off bottom of table with three-wicket win over lowly Spirit
New Zealand batter's 80 off 35 keeps Fire off bottom of table with three-wicket win over lowly Spirit
Scorer: Ranjith P | Commentator: @PeterDellaPenna
9.17 pm London Spirit with a ghoulish record ending the inaugural Hundred campaign with a solitary win, ending in last place on three points. Duck soup for the opening partnership in the chase winds up not mattering a bit for Welsh Fire thanks to Glenn Phillips' 80 off 35 balls. Blake Cullen and Brad Wheal's three wickets apiece are in vain.
No surprises for guessing the Match Hero. It's Glenn Phillips: "[Getting a hundred] was definitely on my mind, but in the end we're a team first mentality with the boys. Qais managed to finish it with a couple of balls to go in the end. It was on my mind but definitely wasn't at the forefront. It was great to have so many people here with the Covid restrictions getting a little more lenient. The more I think, the worse it gets for me. It's a very simple game plan that goes on and then if I stick to it and just watch the ball after that, it's all I do to go bat. I think the pitch was a little bit slow. They batted really well. Credit to Josh [Inglis] who batted stunningly in that first innings but obviously it starts to quicken up under lights a little more and we made the most of it. I think every team going forward is going to learn the tactics a little better and understand when to bowl the 10 straight for which type of bowler and when not to so it'll be interesting to see what the next couple years of the Hundred brings."
So tomorrow is the first day without a Hundred doubleheader since the opening two days of the tournament when the men and women played singular curtain raisers. But Friday comes the Eliminator playoff matches! Invincibles vs Phoenix on the women's side followed by Brave vs Rockets in the nightcap for the men's game for the right to go to their respective finals. Join us then for more live coverage. That's all for the league phase though. For Varun Shetty, I'm Peter Della Penna. Take care!
Brad Wheal to bowl the final set.
London Spirit have now been penalized for not finishing their overs in time. They'll have to bowl the final six balls (if the game lasts that long) with an extra fielder inside the ring.
New Zealand batter's 80 off 35 keeps Fire off bottom of table with three-wicket win over lowly Spirit