A packed crowd at the Kia Oval watched on as 20-year-old Lhuan-dre Pretorius, made 64 from 28 balls to help London Spirit to a seven-wicket win over MI London in a hotly contested London derby.
Chasing 165 to win, Jonny Bairstow and Pretorius flew out of the blocks and brought up the Spirit’s 50 off 18 balls and closed the powerplay on 61-0.
Bairstow departed for 23 from 12, but Pretorius kept up the momentum, reaching his first half-century in The Hundred from 23 balls, clearing the ropes seven times in total, as the Spirit headed towards their target.
He would fall to Boult with the score on 101 just before the halfway mark of the Spirit innings, but the damage was done as Dewald Brevis cracked 37 not out from 18 balls to see the Spirit climb off the bottom of the table with a first victory of the season with 11 balls to spare.
MI London’s innings had got off to a steady start as Will Jacks and James Vince had their work cut out for them against David Willey and Adam Milne, reaching 28-0 at the close of the powerplay against a moving ball.
They were to be rewarded for their patience, moving up through the gears against Adam Zampa and Andrew Tye, England man Jacks moving to his half-century from 30 balls.
Things then swung back in the favour of the visitors when Vince fell to James Coles for 26 and Jamie Overton saw off Jacks and new man Nicholas Pooran in the space of three balls. Jacks departed for a fine 65 from 44 balls, becoming the highest run-scorer in the history of The Hundred men’s competition in the process.
Overton continued the Spirit’s fightback, removing Jason Roy caught behind on review, the batter back in the MI London side in place of skipper Sam Curran who sat out the match as a precautionary measure.
Late hitting from Sherfane Rutherford propelled MI London past the 160 mark before the West Indian fell for 41 off 19 from the final ball of the innings. Rutherford’s lusty blows looked to have given the hosts something to defend but the big hitting of Pretorius made light work of the chase and kept Spirit in the competition.
