Hayley Matthews Guides Welsh Fire to Victory Over London Spirit

 The Hundred Women's Competition, Lord's

London Spirit 150-5 (100 balls): Gibson 41 (25); Davies 2-19  

Welsh Fire 151-4 (96 balls): Matthews 78 (46); Gibson 2-28  

Fire won by six wickets

Scorecard

Hayley Matthews' unbeaten 78 led Welsh Fire to a six-wicket win over London Spirit in The Hundred women's competition at Lord's.

The dynamic West Indies player timed her 46-ball innings perfectly, enabling Fire to chase down a challenging target of 151 with five balls remaining.

For Spirit, Danielle Gibson scored 41 off 25 balls, while seamer Freya Davies stood out for Fire, taking 2-19 and dismissing England captain Heather Knight for five and Meg Lanning for 31 in quick succession.

Fire initially struggled to find their rhythm, but Matthews accelerated at the right moment. With 16 needed from the final 10 balls, she sealed the victory with consecutive boundaries off Deepti Sharma.

This loss marked Spirit's first defeat of the season, keeping them second in the table, while Fire moved up to third place.