London Spirit are on the board in the Men's Hundred 2026, thanks to blistering range-hitting from South African duo Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Dewald Brevis.
They recorded only their second win from 10 completed games against cross-city rivals MI London, chasing down 165 with seven wickets and 11 balls to spare.
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Stark difference in powerplay scores
Liam Livingstone won the toss and elected to bowl first. Eventually, it materialized as a crucial one to win, as the powerplay scores proved the difference between both sides.
Spirit openers - Jonny Bairstow and Pretorius - smashed 50 off just 18 deliveries. Bairstow's brisk 23 off 12 dislodged Richard Gleeson's lengths, while his partner raced to 50 in no time and eventually finished with seven sixes.
On the contrary, MI London stumbled at the start on what was a tacky surface to start on. Stand-in skipper James Vince looked scrappy, and despite top-scoring with 65 off 44, even Will Jacks struggled to find his timing. The boundaries came too few and far between each other. Sam Curran was sidelined as a precaution.
Check out the scorecard from the MI London vs London Spirit game.
The Jamie Overton show
Even then, Vince and Jacks piled on 91 runs for the first wicket, before Jamie Overton joined the party.
On an evening where anything pace on and full disappeared, the fast bowler peppered hard lengths into the wicket and scalped three wickets - all off short deliveries. Most remarkably, a snorter that kissed Nicholas Pooran's gloves was a telling moment in the match.
He went on to finish with 3-30, but that wasn't enough to prevent a late onslaught from Sherane Rutherford, who lifted MI London's total to 164 with an imposing 41* (19).
Pretorius leaves MI London with no chance
In reply, Pretorius, who has shown flashes of brilliance this tournament, took Trent Boult downtown in the very first set. Across T20s, the 20-year-old has smacked 98 runs from 51 balls against Boult.
He brought his incredible bat speed and wrist work to the center stage as he obliterated MI London with 64 off just 28 deliveries.
Rashid Khan was held back and bowled a tidy yet wicketless spell of 0-20 across two sets of 10, but Dewald Brevis walked in after Livingstone's wicket and took no time to get going.
He too, scored at over 200, notching 38* from 18 balls, with a no-look six over midwicket off Olly Stone the highlight of his innings.
It opens up the table, with only a win separating seventh place from the summit.
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