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Smriti Mandhana’s unbeaten 88 off 50 balls guided Manchester Super Giants Women to a four-wicket win over Sunrisers Leeds Women at Headingley in Match 10 of The Hundred Women’s 2026. Super Giants move to second in the table with three wins from three.
There was a moment, midway through the Super Giants’ chase, when Headingley thought it had the match. Jess Jonassen had taken two wickets in three balls, MSG were 68 for 4, and the key wicket — Smriti Mandhana, 30 off 21 — had just skied one to mid-wicket. Then Phoebe Litchfield, advancing to take the catch, spilled it. What followed was 58 runs off 28 balls that Sunrisers Leeds will be replaying for some time.
Leeds, England: It is a quality that separates the great short-format players from the merely good ones — the ability to absorb a crisis, locate a gear previously hidden, and make it look inevitable. At Headingley on Tuesday, with Manchester Super Giants losing wickets around her and Sunrisers Leeds sniffing a famous home win, Smriti Mandhana did exactly that. She made 88 not out from 50 balls and was named the Meerkat Match Hero. The numbers are impressive. The manner in which those runs were assembled — calmly, then ruthlessly — was something more.
Sunrisers Build a Platform
Manchester Super Giants, winning the toss, elected to field first under overcast Leeds skies, and for the first half of the Sunrisers innings that looked like the right call. The powerplay yielded 25 runs for the loss of one wicket, the pitch offering the hold that Headingley doesn’t always produce. Bryony Smith scratched early before holing out for 26.
It was then the Australian pair of Phoebe Litchfield and Annabel Sutherland who lifted Sunrisers towards a competitive total. Litchfield made 31 with the authority that has defined her Hundred campaigns — crisp through the off side, willing to use her feet against the spinners — before Kathryn Bryce, bowling with excellent variation, induced the false shot to remove her. Sutherland then scored 35. Gibson’s late cameos across several matches this season were evident again in a brisk final cluster of runs from the tail.
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Sunrisers posted 142 for 4 from their 100 balls — a total that felt par at a ground where the average second-innings score in The Hundred is 130-140. With five Australian overseas players in the contest and three Indians, the match had the star power to match the occasion. But 143 would test any side on a surface with hold in it.
The Drop That Changed Everything
The Super Giants’ chase started cleanly. The powerplay brought 35 runs without the loss of a wicket as Mandhana and Meg Lanning assessed the conditions carefully. The tone was measured, controlled — patience from a side that knew the match would be decided in the final 40 balls rather than the first 25.
Then came the collapse. Two wickets in three balls left MSG 68 for 4 at the innings mid-point. Jonassen, bowling with intelligence on a surface that rewarded her accuracy, helped bring down the equation to 75 needed from 50 balls with no senior batter left except Mandhana. She was delighted when Mandhana pulled one to Litchfield at mid-wicket. Litchfield, who had to advance a little, spilled the catch. Jonassen was shocked. Headingley groaned. Mandhana, on 30, simply reset and played the next ball.
Though Jonassen dismissed Mady Villiers two balls later, Mandhana hit 58 off her next 28 balls to lead Manchester to victory with four balls to spare. It was a one-batter show for the majority of the innings. Kathryn Bryce was her composed companion at the end — making 9 not out and steering the final runs with the same steadiness she had shown with the ball — but the chase belonged to Mandhana from the moment Litchfield put it down.
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With 16 needed from 10 balls, Darcey Carter put down a second chance off Mandhana, the ball bursting through her hands to run away for four. Sunrisers were left to rue both reprieves deeply.
The finish, when it came, was spectacular. Mandhana launched the 96th ball straight back over the bowler’s head for six — picking the slower one and sending it dead straight — as a fitting final statement on an innings of sustained brilliance.
“Got a Little Lucky, But Glad I Could Do the Job”
Mandhana, collecting the Player of the Match award, was characteristically direct about both her fortune and her quality.
It feels great to win the match. I got a little lucky with the dropped chance, but nevertheless I was able to get the job done. We discussed that the wicket had a bit of hold in it — it wasn’t a typical Headingley wicket — and I didn’t start the way I would have loved to, but we ended nicely,” she said.
“In franchise cricket you’re going to have good days and bad days, the turnover is quick, but if you win matches like these, then it puts you in a good place.”
Good place is an understatement. Manchester Super Giants Women move to 10 points from three games — second in the table behind Southern Brave Women who remain the only unbeaten side — having now won three from three. Sunrisers Leeds, the defending women’s champions, drop their second match of the competition and will need to respond quickly.
The innings was Mandhana’s first fifty of the Hundred this year, her highest score in the tournament and her 59th overall in short-format cricket. On a night of many stars, she was the only one that mattered.
Scores: Sunrisers Leeds Women 142/4 (100 balls) — Annabel Sutherland 35, Phoebe Litchfield 31, Lauren Winfield-Hill 17, Dani Gibson 18; Kathryn Bryce 1-21
Manchester Super Giants Women 147/6 (96/100 balls) — Smriti Mandhana 88* (50); Jess Jonassen 1-34
Result: Manchester Super Giants Women won by 4 wickets (with 4 balls remaining)
Player of the Match: Smriti Mandhana (MSG Women) — 88* (50), 2 catches
The Hundred Women’s 2026 standings (after Match 10):
1- Southern Brave Women — 3 wins, 12 pts (unbeaten)
2- Manchester Super Giants Women — 3 wins, 10 pts
5- Sunrisers Leeds Women — 1 win, 4 points
