London: India all-rounder Deepti Sharma played a crucial role with both bat and ball as London Spirit lifted their maiden Women’s Hundred title, beating Welsh Fire by four wickets in the final at the Lord’s here.
Deepti snapped a wicket giving away 23 runs and then smashed a run-a-ball 16, including the winning six off 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 running her out at the non-striker’s end during the third ODI against England in 2022, triggering a debate over the spirit of the game.
It was ecstacy for Deepti and despair for Dean that day but here the two were on the same side, engineering the maiden victory after chasing down a victory target of 116 in 98 balls.
Besides Deepti, Eva Gray (2/26) and Sarah Glenn (2/17) snapped two wickets each, while Tera Norris (1/18) also chipped in with a wicket to restrict Welsh Fire to 115 for 8 in stipulated 100 balls, which was mainly built on the 41-ball 54 by Australia’s Jess Jonassen.
In reply, Georgia Redmayne anchored the chase with a 32-ball 34.
Heather Knight (24) and Danielle Gibson (22) also chipped in with useful contributions even as Shabnim Ismail threatened to derail the chase with figures of three for 24 in her 20 balls.
But Deepti then took the onus on herself and produced the only maximum of the match in the nick of time to take her team home.
