Spirit lose five wickets for two runs as Archer’s 4 for 9 keeps Southern Brave alive
Jofra Archer took 4 for 9 at Lord’s and Adil Rashid moved past Tymal Mills as the men’s Hundred’s all-time leading wicket-taker. Southern Brave still needed David Miller to finish the job.
Aug 2, 2026
London Spirit had crawled to 103 for 5 at Lord’s with 15 balls of their innings left, and on a pitch offering nothing easy, that looked like the beginnings of a total worth defending. Two runs later they were all out. Jofra Archer and Marcus Stoinis each took two wickets in two balls, the innings folded on 105 with eight balls unused, and Southern Brave chased it down with three balls to spare on 1 August.
Archer finished with 4 for 9 from his 20 balls, eleven of which were dots, and was named player of the match. It was the first time all tournament he had taken more than two wickets in a game, something he pointed out himself afterwards. “Everyone’s been bowling well,” he said. “We’ve not been getting huge amounts of wickets but we’ve definitely been keeping the runs down.”
Stoinis was the other half of the wrecking job, 3 for 17 from 17 balls, and those three took him to nine wickets in four matches and the top of this season’s wicket-taking list. Chris Jordan, who had put Spirit in, took one. Nobody in the Brave attack went for more than 1.8 runs a ball.
Rashid moves past Mills
The wicket that mattered most in the record books came earlier and looked routine. Adil Rashid had Liam Livingstone caught at deep cover for 5, and with it went past Tymal Mills to become the leading wicket-taker in the history of the men’s Hundred. Rashid ended with 2 for 17 from his 20 balls, nine of them dots.
He is 38, and this is the sixth season of a competition that started in 2021. The man who has now taken more wickets in it than anyone got there mostly by refusing to be hit. A strong return in this year’s competition, with tight, miserly figures throughout.
Bairstow alone
Jonny Bairstow made 56 off 43 balls and nobody else in the Spirit order passed 11. He reached his fifty from 40 deliveries and was scratchy for a good while before that, with Spirit only 52 for 2 at the halfway mark. Lhuan-dre Pretorius went for 11 off 8, James Rew for 11 off 12, Dewald Brevis for 1 off 5. Bairstow was caught off Archer with the score on 103, and the rest was a formality that took six balls.
Five wickets for two runs is a hard way to lose a game you were still in.
Miller and Stubbs make it awkward
Chasing 106, Brave managed to make it interesting. David Willey had Ben McKinney bowled first ball and removed Nikhil Chaudhary soon after, finishing with 2 for 28. Jamie Smith counter-attacked to 36 off 22 with a six into the scoreboard before James Coles trapped him lbw. Adam Zampa conceded 14 off his 20 balls and had Moeen Ali caught, then Stoinis was run out at the non-striker’s end and Brave were 60 for 5 with 46 still needed off 48.
David Miller and Tristan Stubbs took it from there without much drama, an unbroken stand of 51 in 45 balls. Miller finished 39 not out off 28 and cleared the ropes on the way, Stubbs was 12 not out off 20, and the 24,657 at Lord’s watched Brave get home with three balls in hand.
Where it leaves the table
Brave have now won two in a row after losing their first three, which puts them fourth on eight points from five matches with a net run rate of 0.104. They remain live for an Eliminator place. Spirit sit seventh on four points from four, and would need a run of results elsewhere to go with their own to reach the knockouts. Trent Rockets and Welsh Fire lead on 12 points each.