Indian all-rounder Deepti Sharma played a crucial role with bat and ball as London Spirit won their first Women’s Hundred title, defeating Welsh Fire by four wickets in the final at Lord’s Stadium.
Deepti took a wicket, conceding 23 runs, and then managed 16 runs per ball, including the winning sixer against Hayley Matthews, as the Indian and England’s Charlie Dean jumped into each other’s arms in celebration.
Two years ago, Deepti had controversially dismissed Dean after leaving her out of the non-strikers’ side in the third ODI against England in 2022, sparking a debate over the spirit of the game.
On that day, Deepti was in joy and Dean was in despair, but here the two were on the same side and secured the first win after reaching their winning target of 116 in 98 balls.
Apart from Deepti, Eva Gray (2/26) and Sarah Glenn (2/17) picked up two wickets each, while Tera Norris (1/18) also contributed a wicket to restrict Welsh Fire to 115 for 8 in the stipulated 100 balls, which relied mainly on Australia’s Jess Jonassen’s 54 from 41 balls.
In response, Georgia Redmayne secured the win with 32 balls 34.
Heather Knight (24) and Danielle Gibson (22) also made useful contributions, although Shabnim Ismail threatened to spoil the chase with figures of 3 for 24 in her 20 balls.
But Deepti then took responsibility herself and scored the only maximum of the game at the last moment to lead her team home.