Zak Crawley continued his strong form as Northern Superchargers reclaimed their place in the top three of The Hundred men’s table with a comfortable eight-wicket victory over London Spirit at Lord’s.
Having been pushed down to fourth by Southern Brave’s tense win at Welsh Fire earlier in the day, Superchargers moved back into third by easing to a chase of 136 with 18 balls to spare.
Sharing partnerships of 63 with Dawid Malan and 56 with Dan Lawrence, Crawley batted through for 55 not out – his second fifty of the tournament which takes him top of its’ run-scoring charts.
England’s Test opener, who has said he remains keen to play across all formats at international level, hit four elegant fours in the first six balls of the chase and two sixes over the leg-side as he kicked for home.
“I try to keep the fundamentals the same but I anticipate more shots than I do in a red-ball game,” Crawley told Sky Sports.
“That’s what I have done differently this year and it has paid off.”
That made light work of knocking off Spirit’s 135-3 as the visitors, captained by England white-ball skipper Harry Brook and coached by England legend Andrew Flintoff, cannily restricted Spirit on a slow and tricky pitch.
Jamie Smith hit four fours and a six but scoring was a struggle after he fell, with Ollie Pope needing 38 balls for his 52 not out. Only one boundary came in the final 33 balls of Spirit’s innings.
Spirit are not mathematically out of the race for a top-three finish but must win their final two games and hope a series of results go their way.
Superchargers’ next match is against top-of-the-table Oval Invincibles at Headingley on Saturday.