Men’s Hundred 2024, LS-M vs BP-M 5th Match Match Report, July 27, 2024

Birmingham Phoenix 131 for 7 (Bethell 43, Stone 2-14) beat London Spirit 127 for 7 (Russell 37*, Abbott 4-14) by three wickets

Abbott claimed 4 for 14 from his 20 deliveries – the 10th-best figures in the history of the men’s Hundred – as Phoenix restricted their hosts to 127 for 7, and the Australian allrounder was there at the finish as his side snuck home with a ball to spare.

Asked to bat first, Spirit had slumped to 30 for 5 after Tim Southee trapped Daniel Bell-Drummond lbw with his first delivery and Abbott saw off Michael Pepper, Adam Rossington, Dan Lawrence and Ryan Higgins in the space of eight balls.

Shimron Hetmyer briefly flickered but fell for 16 after top-edging Benny Howell to Adam Milne before Liam Dawson (36 from 34) and Andre Russell (37 from 20) mounted a recovery. Russell hit four sixes in a typically brutal knock which included three maximums off the final set of the innings, bowled by Milne.

The visitors stuttered when both players were dismissed with the finishing line in sight but Howell held his nerve, smashing the penultimate ball of the match over extra-cover to seal the win with Abbott, the Meerkat Match Hero, standing at the non-striker’s end.

Abbott said: “The feedback from the guys who opened up was that it was doing a little bit so I was just trying to present the seam and hit the top of the stumps. Keeping the run rate down is the most important thing and if you can pick up some wickets along the way then that’s a bonus.

“The first two games have favoured the bowlers. We didn’t expect as much seam movement at this time of the year.

“It was nice to be out there at the end. I was chuffed for Benny, he played really well again tonight. It wasn’t the easiest wicket and the two young blokes [Mousley and Bethell] did pretty well to get us close to home.”