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Nadine de Klerk hit the match-winning six and Marizanne Kapp starred with bat and ball as London Spirit Women stunned table-topping Trent Rockets Women at Trent Bridge in The Hundred Women’s Competition 2026, claiming their first win of the campaign in a stunning upset — while the Manchester Super Giants vs Birmingham Phoenix match was abandoned without a ball bowled due to rain.
They arrived at Trent Bridge with nothing to lose, a -3.288 net run rate, and a seven-wicket defeat in their only previous outing. They left it with their first two points of the competition, a match-winning six from Nadine de Klerk ringing in their ears, and the knowledge that they had just beaten the competition’s most dominant side in their own backyard. London Spirit, written off before a ball was bowled at Trent Bridge, are suddenly, improbably, very much alive.
Nottingham: London Spirit bounced back from an opening defeat to Manchester Super Giants — in which they were rolled for 80 — with a stunning win over Trent Rockets, who were unable to build on a nine-wicket drubbing of Birmingham Phoenix that had seen them raze their fellow Midlanders for just 64. Nadine de Klerk hit the match-winning six for Spirit in a finish that brought Trent Bridge to silence and sent the Spirit players into raptures. The South African pair of Kapp and de Klerk had delivered the upset of The Hundred Women’s 2026 so far.
Rockets Bat First — Dunkley and Dotin Provide Moments, Inconsistency Costs
London Spirit won the toss and chose to field — a decision that looked questionable from early in the Rockets innings as Sophia Dunkley set about the Spirit attack with characteristic aggression. Dunkley slammed three boundaries in a row off Deandra Dottin, the Caribbean batter’s afternoon with the ball becoming increasingly difficult — Dottin’s figures reading an eye-watering 0 for 32 from 10 balls as Dunkley and Sophie Luff played with intent. Dunkley made 23 off 15, a cameo of quality before her dismissal checked the Rockets momentum.
Ashley Gardner and Sophie Luff, who hit 24 off 19 balls, collared Dottin later on as the Rockets attempted to build a total that their bowling attack could defend. Nat Sciver-Brunt, Beth Mooney, and Gardner all made contributions without any one of them converting into the defining innings Trent Bridge had hoped for.
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Kapp Sets It Up, De Klerk Finishes It
The Spirit chase was built on exactly the kind of senior professional quality that their batting line-up had so conspicuously lacked against Manchester Super Giants. Where they had been bowled out for 80 in that opener — losing five wickets for six runs in one of the great collapses of the 2026 competition — at Trent Bridge they were measured, composed and ultimately clinical.
Marizanne Kapp starred for Spirit — the South African all-rounder who has become one of The Hundred’s most complete performers, bringing her international experience to bear in the middle overs, building the platform that de Klerk would ultimately exploit. Kapp’s role was that of the anchor — holding the innings together as wickets fell around her, her calm at the crease communicating itself to her batting partners and slowing the match’s heartbeat precisely when Rockets needed it to race.
Then de Klerk stepped up for the defining moment. With the equation finely balanced and Spirit needing the win, the South African batter launched a six that cleared the boundary and completed one of the most unexpected results of The Hundred Women’s 2026.
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The Standings Reshuffle — And the Rain That Robbed Manchester
The result reshuffles The Hundred Women’s 2026 table meaningfully. Trent Rockets, who had sat at the top with four points and a towering NRR of +7.768 after their opening win, drop their first points of the campaign. Spirit, who had been rooted to the bottom, climb off zero for the first time.
It was also a Sunday of rain frustration elsewhere. The 7th Match between Manchester Super Giants Women and Birmingham Phoenix Women in Manchester was abandoned without a ball bowled, each side taking one point from the washout. For Super Giants — who have been the form side of the competition, winning both their previous fixtures — a point when they could have had two is a minor setback heading into the second week. For Birmingham Phoenix, still seeking their first win of the campaign, the shared point provides the faintest of encouragement.
Sunday’s double-header ultimately produced one of The Hundred Women’s most compelling results. The competition has a new story to tell — and Spirit, the team nobody expected to bounce back, are telling it.
8th Match Result: London Spirit Women won by 5 wickets
Player of the Match: Nadine de Klerk (LS-W) (41 of 22 balls)
Key performers: Marizanne Kapp (LS-W) 3/12, Sophia Dunkley 23 (15) (TR-W)
Scorecard
Trent Rockets Women 142/7 — Bass Health 31 (19), Gardner 34 (22); Kapp 3/12, Dean 2/18
London Spirit Women 146/5 — de Klerk 41 (22), Kelly 39 (26); Gardener 2/24
7th Match Result: Manchester Super Giants Women vs Birmingham Phoenix Women — Abandoned
