London Spirit off the mark as Welsh Fire burned by the Lord’s pitch

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Spirit attack snuffs out Fire for 94 before hosts stumble over the line at a spicy HQ

Liam Dawson claimed 3 for 10 from his 20 balls  •  ECB via Getty Images

London Spirit 96 for 7 (Hetmyer 30*, Lawrence 29, Henry 3-19) beat Welsh Fire 94 for 9 (Dawson 3-10, Ellis 3-16) by wickets

London Spirit won a low-scoring contest against Welsh Fire by three wickets to secure their first win of The Hundred men’s competition at Lord’s.

Liam Dawson and Nathan Ellis claimed three wickets apiece as Fire could manage just 94 for nine, with Dan Worrell’s first 10 balls of the game all dots to set the tone.

Matt Henry claimed three quick wickets to give Fire hope, but Dan Lawrence kept a cool head in a nervy chase with an unbeaten 29 which enabled Shimron Hetmyer to freedom muscle an unbeaten 30 and steer the hosts home with 13 balls remaining.

Tom Kohler-Cadmore was unable to score off Worrall’s opening 10 balls and departed soon after when Andre Russell held a good catch running backwards off Olly Stone.

Worrall got his reward to remove Luke Wells, who hit the only two sixes of the innings, and Dawson bowled Joe Clarke as Jonny Bairstow could only watch on as he faced just two of the first 35 balls.

The England man got away a couple of boundaries when he finally got the strike but was bowled swiping against the line to give Ellis his first wicket.

From there Ellis and Dawson put on the squeeze, conceding just 26 from their 40 balls combined. World Cup winner Dawson showed all his skill on the two-paced surface, returning three for 10, as Fire limped to a score that was never likely to be enough.

The Welsh side needed early wickets and Henry provided them prising out Michael Pepper, Ollie Pope and Adam Rossington to leave Spirit 25 for three.

Haris Rauf, who would later be on a hat-trick, had Ravi Bopara caught behind before Lawrence and Hetmyer settled home nerves in a 46-run stand.

After doing the heavy lifting Lawrence skied a catch off Rauf, who bowled Russell next ball, and Hetmyer rode his luck after being dropped while Bairstow missed a tough stumping.

The West Indian remained and crunched a six to finish the game and get the Spirit’s campaign up and running.

Meerkat Match Hero Dawson said: “Tonight was a very big game for us after losing the first two. To get over the line will give us a huge amount of confidence. I have started nicely – it was a nice pitch to bowl on to put the ball in the right area and let the pitch do the work. It got a little bit tight in the end.”

Spirit captain Lawrence said: “Hopefully we can get a roll now and keep performing like that. The mistake I made was trying to get the game done as soon as possible. I was just trying to stay in and take calculated risks.”