MI London were 23 for 5 at Lord’s, and Amelia Kerr’s 69 not out still won it
Charlie Dean had figures of 3 for 6 and MI London were eight down for 64. They defended 122 anyway, by three runs, and finally have a win in the Hundred.
Aug 7, 2026
Amelia Kerr walked out to bat at Lord’s on Thursday with MI London three wickets down and the innings already wobbling. By the time she had faced a handful of balls it was five down for 23. She was still there at the end of the hundred, unbeaten on 69, and that innings won a cricket match that her side had no business winning.
Twenty-three for five, and then it got worse
London Spirit’s bowlers barely had to work for the first half of the innings. Hayley Matthews went for 2. Kira Chathli made 7. Then Charlie Dean, the Spirit captain, came on after 30 balls, bowled her full allocation straight through, and produced the burst that should have settled it: Hollie Armitage caught behind for 6, Nicola Carey lbw for 0, Alice Monaghan caught behind for 0. Three wickets, and the score did not move off 23 while she took them.
At that point Dean’s figures read 3 for 6. Chinelle Henry hung around long enough to make 22 and drag the total past 50, but she went at 57, Alice Davidson-Richards at 60, and when Tara Norris was bowled the scoreboard read 64 for 8. In a hundred-ball game with the innings two-thirds gone, that is normally where the argument ends.
Kerr farms the strike, then stops bothering
Kerr had spent the collapse doing what a specialist does when the other end keeps falling over, which is take what is on offer and wait. Once she ran out of partners worth protecting she stopped waiting. She and Kirstie Gordon put on 32 in 19 balls for the ninth wicket. Four of Kerr’s sixes came off Dean, whose 3 for 6 finished as 3 for 26.
MI London closed on 122 for 9. Kerr’s 69 came from 41 balls with five fours and four sixes, and nobody got her out, which by the end felt like the only line on the card that mattered. She was named player of the match. It would have been hard to argue for anyone else.
Spirit’s chase dies four runs short
A target of 123 at Lord’s should not have been complicated. Spirit lost Grace Harris early, then Kelly, then Amy Jones, and Dean herself went at 51. At the halfway mark they were 54 for 4 and needed 69 from the last 50 balls.
Marizanne Kapp and Nadine de Klerk gave them a route back. Their fifth-wicket stand was worth 42 and carried the chase to 93 before Kapp fell for 34. De Klerk made 35 and went at 108. Deandra Dottin came in with the game still live and hit 11 from six balls, which was very nearly enough. She pulled a short one to deep midwicket, went for a second run that was not there, and was run out by Henry and Carey with the total on 119 and the last ball gone.
Carey finished with 2 for 30 from her 20 balls. Nobody in the MI London attack ran through the Spirit middle order. They simply refused to let anyone score quickly, and the four runs Spirit still needed never arrived.
A first win with almost nothing left to win
This was MI London’s sixth match and their first victory. They had tied one against these same opponents at the Oval in July and lost the other four, and Thursday lifts them to 6 points and seventh place, level with the side they just beat and with Birmingham Phoenix. Their net run rate of -1.231 is the second worst in the competition.
Trent Rockets and Southern Brave sit clear at the top on 20 points apiece from six games, with Manchester Super Giants on 14 and Welsh Fire on 12. The bottom three are realistically playing for pride and for individual returns now. On the evidence of Thursday night, Kerr is worth the ticket price either way.