|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
MI London Women and London Spirit Women played out one of The Hundred Women’s 2026’s most extraordinary matches, finishing tied at 151 apiece at The Kia Oval. Melie Kerr’s 49*, Chinelle Henry’s 33 off 12 balls, Amy Jones’ 49 and Marie Kelly’s 45 all shone — but it was Deandra Dottin scrambling through for two off the final ball that sealed a share of the points.
On the final ball, Deandra Dottin swung hard and clubbed it into the leg side. She and Charlie Dean ran two. Melie Kerr, fielding at deep midwicket, got the ball stuck momentarily in her palm — the fraction of a second that made all the difference. The throw was late. Dottin scrambled home. The match ended in a tie. One point each. A scoreline that satisfied nobody and captured everything about one of the best matches The Hundred Women’s 2026 competition has produced.
London, England: At some point during the afternoon at The Kia Oval, this match was won three separate times — once by MI London, once by London Spirit, and once by nobody in particular. It changed hands in the Kerr-Henry partnership, in the Kelly-Jones stand, in the five final balls that Hayley Matthews bowled, and in the millimetres between Dottin’s bat and the crease on the last delivery of the chase. No tie-breaker exists for Hundred group games. A point each. Both sides will privately believe they deserved more.
Henry Takes MI London Beyond Par
London Spirit won the toss and asked MI London to bat first on a surface that Meerkat Match Hero Marie Kelly would later describe as having “extra bounce” and “a strong wind” to contend with. MI London were 81 for 3 at the strategic timeout — behind the rate they wanted, ahead of the score that would genuinely threaten a good side.
Then Melie Kerr and Chinelle Henry took over. The Kiwi had been in impish form throughout the innings, opening up the offside with the wristy cuts and drives that make her such a difficult bowler to set fields for. Her 49 from 32 balls — seven fours, composed through the middle overs — was the platform. Henry was the detonator. The Jamaican arrived in the final quarter of the innings and hit 33 from 12 balls, a brutal display of power hitting that included 16 runs taken from Nadine de Klerk’s final three deliveries alone. The pair’s 55-run partnership from just 23 balls swung the total from competitive to imposing. MI London finished at 151 for 4.
ALSO READ: Mooney’s masterclass and Phillips’ brilliance help Trent Rockets beat Welsh Fire by 8 wickets
Marizanne Kapp had been outstanding with the ball — her 2 for 24 doing the bulk of the containment work in the middle overs — but even Kapp could not stop Henry in that final set. De Klerk’s final three deliveries had already inflicted the damage before anyone could intervene.
Kelly and Jones Build the Chase — Then Fall
Henry’s afternoon grew even more eventful when she opened the bowling for MI London and immediately induced a leading edge from Grace Harris, the dangerous Australian caught driving loosely to cover for a golden duck. With Harris gone first ball, Spirit needed someone to steady the chase from the front.
Marie Kelly had no intention of steadying anything. The 25-year-old left-hander, who had made 39 in her previous Hundred outing, attacked from the first ball she faced. She reached 34 from just 16 deliveries by the end of the powerplay, Spirit hurtling to 40 for 1 with the platform set for a statement chase. Kelly reached 45 before trying to clear long-on for her fifty — she didn’t get hold of it and was caught. Seventy-nine needed from 50 balls.
Amy Jones had anchored the innings through everything around her — through the early aggression, through Kelly’s wicket, through the middle-phase shuffling of the MI London bowling resources. The England wicketkeeper made 49 from a measured innings that threaded the needle between keeping the rate manageable and not wasting balls on dot deliveries. Her 51-run stand with Marizanne Kapp — Kapp hitting a quickfire 25 before top-edging a sweep against Hayley Matthews — cut the target to 33 from the final 27 balls.
Then Jones herself fell, slog-sweeping to deep square leg for 49. With 27 needed from 22, Spirit were ahead of the rate. With two specialist hitters — Nadine de Klerk and Deandra Dottin — still to come, the match looked Spirit’s to win.
Matthews Holds Her Nerve, Kerr’s Palm Does Not
Nicola Carey bowled a tight five-ball set that reduced the equation to 12 from the final 10 balls, bringing Hayley Matthews to the crease with the result still genuinely in the balance. Matthews — de Klerk’s fellow Barbadian — dismissed the left-hander pulling to deep midwicket, the ball picked out Kerr perfectly and de Klerk walked for a swashbuckling but ultimately insufficient contribution. Three needed off the last delivery with Dottin on strike and Charlie Dean at the non-striker’s end.
READ MORE: The Hundred 2026: Pretorius recovers from collision, hits 64 to fire London Spirit to first win
Dottin swung. She connected, sent the ball into the leg side, and immediately set off. Dean backed up. They needed to run two. Kerr, settling under the ball at deep midwicket, got it to stick momentarily in her palm — the kind of involuntary hesitation that changes outcomes — and the throw arrived just as Dottin committed herself. By the barest of margins, she was back. Two runs completed. The scores level. The match tied.
There is no super over in The Hundred’s group stage. One point each.
Marie Kelly, named Player of the Match for her 45 from 28 balls, captured the mood with total accuracy. “I was so nervous sat on the side, not being able to do anything about it. I feel a bit flat that we’ve tied that one — we were in a great position at one stage, but they pulled it back really well. It’s a strange feeling.”
The Points Table Picture
The tie leaves MI London Women still searching for their first win of the 2026 Hundred. Two points from four matches puts them in serious danger of falling out of the knockout picture if results elsewhere continue to go against them. They had a 151 on the board, Kerr and Henry in the form of their lives, and still couldn’t find two runs from the final ball.
For London Spirit, a point is better than a loss. They remain fourth in the table — still in the conversation — and will take considerable heart from a chase that almost overhauled a total that had genuinely looked out of reach when Henry put his foot down at the end of the MI London innings.
Both dressing rooms will spend the coming days replaying those last ten balls. Both have reason to believe it should have ended differently.
Scores: MI London Women 151/4 (100 balls) — Melie Kerr 49* (32), Chinelle Henry 33* (12), Marizanne Kapp 2-24
London Spirit Women 151/5 (100 balls) — Amy Jones 49 (36), Marie Kelly 45 (28), Marizanne Kapp 25 (13); Hayley Matthews 2-33, Kirstie Gordon 2/29
Result: Match tied (1 point each)
Player of the Match: Marie Kelly (London Spirit Women) — 45 (28)



