The Hundred men’s competition, Sophia Gardens
London Spirit 131-8 (100 balls): Bairstow 34 (19); Jansen 2-16
Welsh Fire 125-7 (100 balls): Cox 44 (28); Willey 3-20
London Spirit won by six runs
Scorecard. Table
Welsh Fire were eliminated from The Hundred as they suffered a six-run defeat by London Spirit in their final group phase match in Cardiff.
Fire finished their campaign four points behind Manchester Super Giants and Sunrisers Leeds, who are second and third respectively, with four wins from eight matches.
MI London, who are fourth, can still qualify for the Eliminator at the expense of Sunrisers if they defeat Birmingham Phoenix by a significant margin today.
Heading into their final fixture, the Welsh side’s hopes of progressing were effectively over because of their net run-rate of -1.001, and they were handed a target of 132 by Spirit to chase down.
Fire looked on course for a routine win as Joe Root and Jordan Cox produced a 47-run stand to take them to 90-2.
Root departed for a run-a-ball 31 but Cox accelerated to reach 44 from 28 balls, leaving his side needing 15 runs to win from eight balls with six wickets in hand.
But Fire then lost Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Rachin Ravindra in quick succession, with Marco Jansen needing a six from the final ball to level the score.
Jansen slapped David Willey over midwicket hoping to clear the rope but was caught by Jamie Overton at deep as they finished narrowly short.
Sent out to bat first, Spirit never fully gained momentum as the Fire bowlers produced a disciplined display to restrict the visitors to 131-8 in Cardiff.
Jonny Bairstow’s 34 from 19 balls provided the early impetus for Spirit while James Coles and Jamie Overton also added 29 and 21 respectively.
But none were able to convert their starts into a substantial innings as Chris Woakes and Jansen picked up two wickets apiece.
Spirit ended their campaign seventh in the table with three wins.
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