Rosa Simkin (@rosatalksball) – 24/07/24
Competition – Women’s Hundred
Ground – Lord’s, London
Head Coach – Ashley Noffke
Captain – Heather Knight
2023 Finish – 6th
Order of Content – The Draft & Construction of Squad, 2023 Season & What To Expect, The Squad, My Starting XI, Players To Watch, The Leadership, The Schedule & Where To Watch, Tickets.
The Draft & Construction of Squad
London Spirit and Ashley Noffke were certainly missing some firepower and balance within their side for the 2023 season and needed some to class editions in The Draft this time round, but first comes retention. In the retention stage of the squad formulation, sides have the option to retain up to eight of their 2023 squad. Spirit opted to use all eight of those available slots, starting with England spin duo Sarah Glenn and Charlie Dean, captain Heather Knight and upandcoming allrounder Dani Gibson as their England centrally contracted contingent. Australian duo Grace Harris and Georgia Redmayne make up the overseas retentions and domestic duo Sophie Munro and Tara Norris make up the eight.
After retention comes The Draft, with sides having to fill any remaining gaps in their top 13 salary bands. Due to their 6th place finish in the 2023 edition Spirit were offered the third pick which they used to sign Australian legend Meg Lanning, who I analysise in more detail later on. With the three allowed overseas slots now fill Spirit opted to boost their batting with Sunrisers Cordelia Griffith and boost their bowling with pace options Eva Gray and Niamh Holland as well as a slow left arm option in Hannah Jones.
This leaves Spirit with two slots to fill in their lowest two salary bands, done a few months after the March draft in the Vitality Wildcard Draft, which allows domestic form to be rewarded. They chose to bring in young talented pace bowler Ellie Anderson, currently on loan at Western Storm and wicket-keeper batter Abbey Freeborn from the Central Sparks.
Since the conclusion of the draft period Australian star Grace Harris has pulled out of the tournament, a significant loss for Spirit. Harris was one of their stars with bat in a season in which scoring runs was hard to come by in 2023. Indian all-rounder Deepti Sharma comes in to replace her. However, Sharma is unavailable for the first few games owing to India’s involvement in the Asia Cup. Whilst unavailable, Erin Burns of Australia will replace her.
2023 Season & What To Expect
London Spirit have historically under-performed as a side in the tournament, especially owing to the talent they hold within their squad. However, in 2023 the weather wasn’t on their side as they missed out on two games owing to rain. Of the six games they were able to contest they won four, eventually placing 6th. Their most impressive performance of the campaign came against Birmingham Phoenix in their last game and was testament to the ability within their squad, when batting first they scored 172/5 then followed it up by bowling Phoenix all out for 99 at Edgbaston. Spin was a crucial aspect within their campaign with their spin alliance of Amelia Kerr, Sarah Glenn and Charlie Dean taking 26 of the 36 wickets the side took in the tournament. Bat was arguably where they struggled however Dani Gibson, Amelia Kerr, Grace Harris, Heather Knight and Richa Ghosh put in quite the shift, splitting the task rather equally among them with their run tallies ranging from 146 – 107.
It could be argued that with the addition of the two games they missed they could have made their way into the eliminator. Ashley Noffke remains as head coach of the side entering his third year and England captain Heather Knight enters her third year of captaining the side. The additions of Meg Lanning, Georgia Redmayne and Deepti Sharma in the overseas department adds some class and does well at balancing out the side and potential XI and could, along with better weather forecasts help them advance further this time round.
The Squad
Meg Lanning (o), Heather Knight, Deepti Sharma* (o), Danielle Gibson, Charlie Dean, Sarah Glenn, Cordelia Griffith, Georgia Redmayne (o), Eva Gray, Sophie Munro, Hannah Jones, Tara Norris, Niamh Holland, Abbey Freeborn, Ellie Anderson, Erin Burns* (o).
*Sharma replaced Grace Harris due to injury. | Burns will replace Sharma at the beginning of the tournament whilst she is away with India for the Asia Cup.
My Starting XI
Abbey Freeborn
Meg Lanning
Heather Knight (C)
Cordelia Griffith
Erin Burns/Deepti Sharma
Georgia Redmayne (WK)
Dani Gibson
Charlie Dean
Sarah Glenn
Sophie Munro
Tara Norris
Bench – Eva Gray, Hannah Jones, Niamh Holland & Ellie Anderson
Players To Watch
Star Player: Meg Lanning
Meg Lanning certainly puts the great in greatness. Her nine-year captaincy spell of Australia Women saw them win four T20 World Cups, a 50-Over World Cup and a Commonwealth Games gold, with an incredible tally of 8,352 international runs including 2 T20I and 15 ODI centuries. As she enters her first Hundred season the right-handed batter will be the difference for Spirit at the top of the order and their historic issues with bat in hand.
Young Talent: Sophie Munro
A loan move early in the summer has provided a crucial platform for right-arm medium bowler Munro to have an impressive 26 wicket tally across formats so far, as she currently plays her cricket for Sunrisers. The 22-year-old was retained by Spirit following her 2 wickets for them last campaign, albeit with limited playing time. If she can maintain her current form heading into The Hundred and is handed opportunities by coach and skipper, she will be key with ball in hand.
The Leadership
Heather Knight (Captain):
England captain Heather Knight enters her fourth year committed to the London Spirit side, despite missing the 2022 season due to injury. This also marks her third year of captaincy with young England spinner Charlie Dean filling in for her during that 2022 season. Her captaincy experience isn’t limited to The Hundred however, with Knight captaining England since 2016, including leading them to their home ODI World Cup success in 2017. In London Spirit blue she has scored 326 runs across the two seasons she has played and took 4 wickets in the 2021 edition of the tournament.
Ashley Noffke (Coach):
Noffke enters his third season at the head of the Spirit squad after taking over from Trevor Griffin in 2022. The former Australian International has struggled since his appointment with his Spirit side placing 7th in the 2022 edition of the tournament and 6th in the 2023 edition. He has opted to keep the same core of players and he’ll be hoping that the start studded edition of Meg Lanning as the first choice in the draft combined with the new young talent of Ellie Anderson, Niamh Holland and more will help get his side well into the top end of the table this season.
The Schedule & Where To Watch
*Home games indicated in bold*
| Date | Opposition | Venue | Time (BST) | Coverage (UK) |
| Wed 24th July | Southern Brave | Utilita Bowl, Southampton | 3:00 PM | Sky Sports |
| Sat 27th July | Birmingham Phoenix | Lord’s, London | 3:00 PM | Sky Sports |
| Thu 1st August | Welsh Fire | Lord’s London | 11:30 AM | Sky Sports |
| Sun 4th August | Oval Invincibles | Lord’s London | 11:00 AM | Sky Sports |
| Wed 7th August | Trent Rockets | Trent Bridge, Nottingham | 3:00 PM | Sky Sports |
| Fri 9th August | Manchester Originals | Lord’s, London | 3:00 PM | Sky Sports |
| Sun 11th August | Oval Invincibles | The Oval, Kennington | 11:00 AM | Sky Sports |
| Tue 13th August | Northern Superchargers | Headingley, Leeds | 3:00 PM | Sky Sports & BBC Two/iPlayer |
Eliminator – Saturday 17th of August @ The Oval, 2.15pm – Sky Sports, BBC Two & BBC iPlayer
Final – Sunday 18th August @ Lord’s, 2.15pm – Sky Sports, BBC Two & BBC iPlayer
Tickets
https://www.thehundred.com/tickets?matches=group
Join in with the action! Tickets start at £5 for Juniors and £11 for Adults in the group stage. After all, every ball counts!
