The Hundred Men’s 2022, Match 10 Review: Daniel Bell-Drummond leads London Spirit to resounding victory

The second edition of The Hundred is not going the Southern Brave‘s way this year, as the defending champions are struggling to rise above the rest in the points table. After winning their opening fixture, they lost two games in a row, the recent one against London Spirit at their home ground Southampton. London Spirit are in great touch this season as they defeated Brave by nine runs to register their third win.

Winning the toss, Spirit captain Eoin Morgan elected to bat first. James Vince’s Brave got two crucial wickets in the powerplay as Spirit openers Zak Crawley and Adam Rossington walked back scoring 13 and eight runs respectively. It was the partnership between Glenn Maxwell and Daniel Bell-Drummond that aided London Spirit to keep the scoreboard ticking.

Maxwell survived an early scare, as he was given lbw out when he had scored just one run, but a successful review helped him stay on the field and made the umpire reverse his decision. The extra life given to Maxwell put more pressure on the Brave. Maxwell’s 21-ball 34 runs knock was studded with five fours and a six, but he had to walk out on the 49^th delivery, courtesy of James Fuller.

When the Maxwell firework stopped, Daniel Bell-Drummond, who was making his debut, played a calm and composed knock under pressure and kept the game going under the crunch situation. Before being runout, he notched up 46 runs off 33 deliveries, which included five fours and a humongous six.

Post his dismissal, Morgan was sent back to the pavilion after scoring just a run. It was Kieron Pollard who played the finisher’s role and added 26 runs towards the end as Spirit ended their innings scoring 147 runs.

London Spirit bowlers keep the hosts away from the target

The brave’s chase did not start the way they had expected, as Maxwell struck on the very first ball and got his first and only wicket in the form of the opposition skipper James Vince. His opening partner Quinton de Kock was run out just a few balls later.

Alex Davies and Marcus Stoinis took the charge of the game thereon, with the former covering a major chunk of runs, but the latter was dismissed soon after the powerplay as London Spirit took an upper hand in the game. The partnership between Davies and Ross Whiteley started building quickly, and even after the former’s dismissal, Whiteley kept going and brought up his half-century.

Jordan Thompson got the crucial wicket of Whiteley and put curtains on Brave’s chase as the lower-middle order batters and the lower-order batters could not score much in the final deliveries. The London Spirit bowlers played their part well and restricted the hosts from chasing a low target to emerge victorious and move to the top of the points table.