Pretorius’ 28-ball 64 gives London Spirit their first win of the Hundred
Seven sixes from the 20-year-old South African, then an unbeaten 37 from Dewald Brevis, and a winless London Spirit finally had four points at The Oval.
Jul 30, 2026
London Spirit had waited three matches for a night like this, and Lhuan-dre Pretorius gave it to them inside 25 balls. The 20-year-old South African hit seven sixes in a 64 off 28 at The Oval on Wednesday, and by the time Dewald Brevis finished the job with 37 not out from 18, Spirit had chased down 165 with 11 balls to spare for a seven-wicket win and their first points of the 2026 Hundred.
Jacks and Rutherford build, Overton pulls it back
Spirit won the toss and put MI London in, and for an hour the decision looked ordinary. Will Jacks and James Vince put on 91 for the first wicket, Jacks reaching his fifty from 30 balls and finishing with 65 off 44 with eight fours and two sixes. Vince made 26 from 20 before James Coles had him caught.
What followed was the difference in the match. Jamie Overton removed Jacks, then Nicholas Pooran for 3, and MI London lost three wickets for nine runs. Sherfane Rutherford dragged the innings back with 41 from 19 balls, four of them sixes, but Andrew Tye had him caught off the final ball, with Overton finishing the innings on 3 for 30. MI London closed on 164 for 5. Given how fast Spirit then scored, that looked 15 or so light.
Sixty-one from the powerplay
Pretorius answered the question almost immediately. He took Trent Boult over midwicket, brought up fifty from 23 balls, and with Jonny Bairstow scoring 23 from 12 at the other end, Spirit were 61 without loss after the 25-ball powerplay. Their opening stand of 63 came up in 28 balls. MI London had managed 28 from their own.
Boult eventually had Pretorius caught behind, and Richard Gleeson removed captain Liam Livingstone for an 18-ball 16, but the required rate never climbed. Rashid Khan bowled his 20 balls for 20 runs without a wicket, which on this evidence counted as a decent night’s work.
Indian readers may recognise the name. Rajasthan Royals signed the left-hander for 30 lakh rupees as an injury replacement in the 2025 IPL season, when he was 19, after he had made 397 runs at a strike rate of 166 for Royals’ SA20 sister franchise, Paarl Royals. He was retained for the 2026 season.
Brevis and Rew see it home
Brevis walked in at 116 for 3 with 49 needed from 36 balls and treated it as a formality, hitting three fours and three sixes in an unbeaten 37. James Rew stayed with him for 19 not out from 13. A crowd of 22,172 watched the home side lose a fixture they have generally owned. MI London, who were Oval Invincibles until Reliance took a 49 per cent stake and renamed them, had won eight of the nine previous meetings with Spirit.
The four points lift Spirit to sixth on one win from three. MI London stay on eight from four, two wins and two defeats, and with five sides now level on eight points the table is bunching badly. Spirit are back at Lord’s on Saturday against a Southern Brave team still looking for a first win of their own.