London Spirit 166 for 3 (Livingstone 66, Brevis 55*) beat Birmingham Phoenix 162 for 4 (Clarke 73, Dickson 51*) by seven wickets
Within the battle of the underside two sides within the Hundred males’s competitors, each having managed only one win, it was London Spirit who triumphed by seven wickets, condemning Birmingham Phoenix to a sixth defeat in seven and leaving them rooted to the foot of the desk.
Joe Clarke, Phoenix’s main run-scorer by a avenue and second general within the match, once more noticed companions come and go, all of Mitchell Owen, the newly put in Joe Weatherley and Laurie Evans making single-figure scores as Spirit bowled tightly, the spinners James Coles and Mason Crane, dovetailing properly.
Clarke discovered a keen accomplice in Sean Dickson and the 2 placed on 92 in 47 balls earlier than they had been parted, younger speedster Henry Crocombe having Clarke caught by Liam Livingstone with the primary ball of his solely set on debut.
In all, Phoenix added 109 within the second half, skipper Donovan Ferreira offering the ending flourish to take his facet to a seemingly aggressive 162 for 4.
When Spirit batted, Jonny Bairstow did not hold round, 6-4-W the story of his three-ball innings. Livingstone got here in in opposition to his outdated crew and, after the departure of Lhuan-dre Pretorius, set concerning the Phoenix bowling in partnership with Dewald Brevis, one of many few batters in T20 cricket who has hit extra sixes than fours.
The pair had been each brutal of their hitting, Livingstone going to a 21-ball 50 (which included a 104-metre six), and canny of their match administration, seeing off the damaging Usman Tariq, who conceded simply 13 off his 20, and getting the equation all the way down to a run a ball with 45 balls left.
Livingstone ended up with 66 from 30 and Brevis completed issues in a rush, going to an unbeaten 55 off 31 to win the sport with a cushty 18 balls to spare.
Livingstone, the Meerkat Match Hero, stated: “We felt prefer it was a good wicket they usually had been underneath par. I really like batting with Brev. He is an amazing expertise and he hits it as arduous as anybody on the earth.”