From: Ed Mace
Lord’s, 9 August 2026:
Liam Livingstone’s London Spirit side took the points in a dead rubber against the Birmingham Phoenix in a tie where the bat dominated.
The Spirit got off to a strong start with the ball having won the toss at the Lord’s on Sunday evening. Adam Milne dismissed Mitch Owen for six and nearly had Joe Weatherly lbw first ball as the much-changed Phoenix batting lineup struggled to get their eye in.
At the end of the powerplay the Birmingham outlet were 25-1 on a Lord’s pitch that proved tricky during the Women’s fixture. Mason Crane responded to being hit for six by Joe Clarke with the wicket of Weatherly. He had to go for six off 14 after skying an effort off the spinner.
Once Laurie Evans had been dismissed by James Coles, Joe Clarke took the onus to play more aggressively. His partnership with Sean Dickson materialised into a strong one as they accelerated through the gears. Clarke reached his 50 with the same stroke that brought up the Phoenix 100, off the 74th ball and Clarke’s 31st.
Their partnership reached 92 from 47 before Clarke was dismissed by Henry Crocombe with his first ever ball in the competition.
Dickson brought up his half-century a few balls later as the Phoenix moved towards a score that felt over-par. His late hitting in tandem with Donovan Ferreira took the Phoenix to 162.
In reply, the first set for the Spirit was an eventful one. Jonny Bairstow top-edged Saqib Mahmood for a six that could have been caught, powered one through midwicket, and had his stumps rearranged in the span of three balls.
The destructive pair of Livingstone and Lhuan-dre Pretorius continued in aggressive fashion, reaching 43-1 before the latter fell to Jordan Thompson just before the close of the powerplay.
Dewald Brevis was the new man in for his South African teammate as he and Livingstone began to swing the tie in the Spirit’s favour. They reached their 50 partnership after 25 balls, dispatching the ball over 100m on occasion.
They took the equation to under a run a ball and never looked back. Livingstone’s half-century was brought up off just 21 deliveries and when he was dismissed by Tom Helm with 30 balls to go the Spirit needed just 19 runs.
It left the young pair of Brevis and Coles to finish the job, which they did comfortably with 18 balls remaining.
Scores in brief:
London Spirit Men beat Birmingham Phoenix Men by seven wickets
Birmingham Phoenix Men 162-4 (Joe Clarke 73, Sean Dickson 51*; James Coles 1-25)
London Spirit Men 164-4 (Liam Livingstone 66, Dewald Brevis 55*; Helm 1-31)
