Dean three-for, Redmayne fifty lift Spirit into first final

Report

Invincibles choked by spin as Heather Knight oversees knockout victory at The Oval

Georgia Redmayne anchored the Spirit chase  •  ECB/Getty Images

London Spirit 116 for 2 (Redmayne 53*) beat Oval Invincibles 113 for 9 (Capsey 30, Dean 3-24) by eight wickets

London Spirit secured a place in the Women’s Hundred final against Welsh Fire at Lord’s with an eight-wicket win over Oval Invincibles.

A disciplined bowling performance followed by a Georgia Redmayne half-century took the side to their first final since the competition’s inception – and ensured that across both men’s and women’s competitions, all eight teams will have featured in the Hundred final.

Spirit won the toss and elected to bowl. Winfield-Hill hit Danielle Gibson for three boundaries in the second set to take the Invincibles to 21 for 0 after 10 balls before Charlie Dean trapped Paige Scholfield lbw for 5.

The introduction of Sarah Glenn saw the back of Winfield-Hill, the Invincibles skipper slapping a return catch back to make the score 37 for 2.

At the halfway point of their innings, Invincibles had moved on to 54 for 2, the Spirit spinners bowling tightly, Dean, Glenn and Deepti Sharma with the combined figures of 2 for 25 from 30 balls.

Gibson, who had previously dropped Alice Capsey twice, eventually removed her for 30 before Kapp fell to Glenn for a run-a-ball 26.

Dean then combined twice with Gibson in the deep to dismiss Mady Villiers and Laura Harris to finish with figures of 3 for 24 – Gibson’s full-length heroics to snare Villiers one of the catches of the tournament.

Gray returned for the final five, dismissing MacDonald-Gay first ball and having Smale stumped as the Invincibles closed their innings on 113 for 9.

Chasing 114 to win, opening batter Redmayne made an unbeaten 53 from 47 balls and was well supported by captain Heather Knight who made a classy 36 not out.

Spirit had reached 33 for 0 after the powerplay, Meg Lanning going well on 21 from 14, both she and Redmayne surviving tough chances to Villiers and Harris.

Marizanne Kapp returned to the attack to have Lanning caught behind for 22 and Amanda-Jade Wellington had Cordelia Griffith stumped to leave the Spirit on 42 for 2 after 40 to bring Knight to the crease.

From there on, Spirit cruised to their target, Redmayne and Knight sharing an unbroken stand of 74.

Meerkat Match Hero, Redmayne, said: “It’s really special, we came into this game in really good spirits.

“Oval have probably got the best of us in the games we’ve played against them previously. We knew if we did the simple things right that we’ve got the team to be able to win the game and get to a Lord’s final at home which is going to be incredible.”

On her innings she said: “It’s nice knowing what kind of intent you’ve got to go in with. Sometimes when you’re facing some really good bowling upfront you can get caught up in that a bit, but it helps having kept for a hundred balls beforehand.”