Deepti Sharma, Heather Knight knock out Superchargers, keep Spirit afloat

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Duo put on 77 to take Spirit up to second in the table

Deepti Sharma and Heather Knight took London Spirit to a win  •  Getty Images

London Spirit 105 for 2 (Knight 43*, Deepti 37*, Smith 3-16) beat Northern Superchargers 99 for 7 (Alice Davidson-Richards 33, Gray 3-17) by seven wickets

Heather Knight and Deepti Sharma guided London Spirit to a vital seven-wicket win at Headingley in the Hundred to keep their team in the hunt for the play-off stages and knock out their opponents, Northern Superchargers.

The pair put on 77 to take Spirit up to second in the table, on nine points, and they will now keep an eye on events at Trent Bridge on Thursday with the Trent Rockets and Oval Invincibles fixture deciding the final make-up of the top three.

For Superchargers, a win today would have guaranteed their place in the last three for the second successive season but their campaign is now over.

The damage was done by Spirit’s bowlers up top. After just 14 balls, Superchargers were three down – Tara Norris, Eva Gray and Dani Gibson each claiming a wicket to see the back of Superchargers’ top three – including the dangerous Phoebe Litchfield.

Litchfield’s fellow Aussie, Annabel Sutherland – so often a stand-out player for Hollie Armitage’s side – attempted a rebuild for her side but when she picked out long-on off Deepti, hopes of a formidable total for the hosts fell away. Alice Davidson-Richards’ 33 ensured they had something on the board, but their 99 felt 7 felt below par.

Superchargers were going to need early wickets and scoreboard pressure to make a game of it but Meg Lanning dispatched a couple of sixes in an 11-ball 20 to get Spirit ahead of the chase.

Linsey Smith came on to dismiss Lanning, and briefly lifted Superchargers hopes with two more wickets, but that brought Knight and Deepti together and they weren’t to be separated.

Initially patient, they accelerated towards the end and were relatively untroubled in what could have been a pressure chase – the experienced international duo showing their class to keep Spirit hopes alive and spell the end for Superchargers.

Meerkat Match Hero Deepti said: “I think all credit goes to our bowlers. We had a meeting and we executed really well.

“I think personally I’m used to these kind of conditions. The wicket is slightly on the slower side, sometimes skiddy, but we managed it really well in the first innings and the second as well.

“I like challenges and really like to bowl and bat in those kind of situations. We only focus on our games and yeah we will sit there and [watch] the other games.”