The Hundred: Deepti Sharma stars as London Spirit beat Manchester Originals

[Animous]

Manchester Originals' hopes of making it out of the group stages of the women's Hundred are effectively over after losing to London Spirit in a fascinating back-and-forth game at Old Trafford.

India's Deepti Sharma produced an excellent all-round performance as Spirit won with two balls to spare.

The off-spinner took 2-10 from 20 deliveries as Originals posted 127-5, with Emma Lamb top-scoring with 39 from 30 balls.

With her side struggling at 87-5 in the chase, Sharma then struck 34 from 24 balls to see her team over the line, with captain Heather Knight (35 off 26) also contributing.

The win takes Spirit to fifth in the table, with two games remaining, with Originals remaining bottom with only one win from six games.

The Sharma show

Heading into the game, Sharma, who is one of the finest players in world cricket, was yet to really set the competition alight.

While her bowling has been economical throughout, she had struggled with the bat and was out in single figures in her last three innings.

But today was a different story.

Not only did she bowl with discipline and limit Originals' batters from scoring, she took the important wickets of South Africa duo Lizelle Lee and Mignon du Preez - arguably the home side's two best batters.

Sharma then combined three boundaries with excellent running between the wickets - sharing an unbeaten 44-run partnership with Charlie Dean (12 off 7) to see her side home.

Franchise tournaments are all about momentum and Spirit will be hoping Sharma is peaking at exactly the right time.

Missed opportunities for Originals

Originals' players were visibly deflated as they trudged off the field to warm applause from the Manchester crowd.

As has been the case with all three of their previous defeats, they were yet again in a winning position and will be ruing missed opportunities.

Lee is one of the most explosive batters in the competition, but took up seven balls before she was dismissed without scoring.

Fellow opener Lamb was in fine form in the Charlotte Edwards Cup T20 competition this year, averaging 95 from three matches, but hasn't hit the same heights in The Hundred and will be disappointed with her run-out dismissal today.

Alex Hartley picked up three wickets for the second consecutive match, but conceded 11 in her last set of five as Spirit took back the initiative.

The Originals can mathematically still make it, but it will most likely be a case of playing for pride in their remaining two games.

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