MacDonald-Gay stars as Manchester Super Giants cruise past London Spirit

Manchester Super Giants kickstarted their 2026 The Hundred campaign with a dominant seven-wicket win over London Spirit at Lord’s on Thursday. The victory was set up courtesy a fine bowling display, led by Ryana MacDonald-Gay’s 4-17 and backed up by Sophie Ecclestone’s return of 1-7 from 20 balls.

Put in to bat on a slow surface, Spirit kickstarted their innings with Grace Harris pumping the first ball from Grace Ballinger down the ground for a boundary. However, her stay was brief, and ended later in the set. Super Giants kept chipping in with wickets at regular intervals, and following the dismissals of Marizanne Kapp and Deandra Dottin, Spirit were quickly reduced to 28 for 5.

Nadine de Klerk and Charlie Dean steadied the innings briefly, but their alliance came to an end on 68 courtesy a run out. Spirit were eventually bundled out for 80 with nine balls still remaining in their innings.

In response, Super Giants broke little sweat in the chase. Smriti Mandhana and Meg Lanning made a cautious start against Kapp, but stitched a 33-run stand before the latter was trapped legbefore. Spirit made a brief fightback striking twice in quick succession, but Richa Ghosh’s introduction in the middle hastened Super Giants’ charge towards the target.

Ghosh pummeled two sixes in four balls before and Paige Scholfield helped the side over the line with another six. Super Giants ended with 86 runs off only 59 balls to make an emphatic start to their campaign.

Brief Scores: London Spirit 80 in 91 balls (Marizanne Kapp 17 [12]; Ryana MacDonald-Gay 4-17, Sophie Ecclestone 1-7) lost to Manchester Super Giants 86/3 in 59 balls (Paige Scholfield 22* [15], Richa Ghosh 15* [5]; Marizanne Kapp 2-18) by 7 wickets