London Spirit 166 for 3 (Livingstone 66, Brevis 55*) beat Birmingham Phoenix 162 for 4 (Clarke 73, Dickson 51*) by seven wickets
In the battle of the bottom two sides in the Hundred men’s competition, both having managed just 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 table.
Joe Clarke, Phoenix’s leading run-scorer by a street and second overall in the tournament, again saw partners come and go, all of Mitchell Owen, the newly installed Joe Weatherley and Laurie Evans making single-figure scores as Spirit bowled tightly, the spinners James Coles and Mason Crane, dovetailing well.
Clarke found a willing partner in Sean Dickson and the two put on 92 in 47 balls before they were parted, young speedster Henry Crocombe having Clarke caught by Liam Livingstone with the first ball of his only set on debut.
In all, Phoenix added 109 in the second half, skipper Donovan Ferreira providing the finishing flourish to take his side to a seemingly competitive 162 for 4.
When Spirit batted, Jonny Bairstow didn’t hang around, 6-4-W the story of his three-ball innings. Livingstone came in against his old team and, after the departure of Lhuan-dre Pretorius, set about the Phoenix bowling in partnership with Dewald Brevis, one of the few batters in T20 cricket who has hit more sixes than fours.
The pair were both brutal in their hitting, Livingstone going to a 21-ball 50 (which included a 104-metre six), and canny in their match management, seeing off the dangerous Usman Tariq, who conceded just 13 off his 20, and getting the equation down to a run a ball with 45 balls left.
Livingstone ended up with 66 from 30 and Brevis finished things in a hurry, going to an unbeaten 55 off 31 to win the game with a comfortable 18 balls to spare.
Livingstone, the Meerkat Match Hero, said: “We felt like it was a decent wicket and they were under par. I love batting with Brev. He’s a tremendous talent and he hits it as hard as anyone in the world.”
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