LS vs TR, review | Jamie Smith makes use of promotion as London Spirit beat Trent Rockets at Lords

08/15/2025

London Spirit beat the Trent Rockets by 21 runs at Lord's on August 14 to win their second game of the Hundred Men’s Competition. Jamie Smith starred with a bat with an incredible half-century at the top, and Richard Gleeson and Daniel Worral kept the Rockets’ batters at bay with two-wicket spells.

‌The Trent Rockets won the Toss and chose to field first, and put the London Spirit into bat on what seemed to be a very tricky surface at Lord's. The hosts made a change in their opening pair, with Jamie Smith coming into bat with the inform David Warner. Despite losing Warner cheaply as the legendary opener lobbed a simple catch to covers off Lockie Ferguson, Smith at the other end made sure the team had a decent power play with the score reading 37/1 after 25 balls. The young English batter continued to score runs freely and received great support from the Spirit skipper, Kane Williamson, as well. The second wicket stand between the two batters ensured the team was in a solid position at the halfway stage with the score at 82/1. The partnership of 73 runs finally came to an end as Sam Cook dismissed Smith after his incredible knock of 52 off 34 deliveries. The dismissal brought a little bit of a break in the scoring rate, with only 30 runs coming in the next 25 deliveries, with the score being 112/2 after 75 deliveries. While it seemed like the Rockets were making a comeback in the game, with Williamson being dismissed by Rehan Ahmed in an attempt to take the attack to the leggie, only to be stumped in the end. Unfortunately, the dismissal did not cause much of a problem as Ollie Pope and Ashton Turner put on 46 runs for the fourth wicket. While Marcus Stoinis bowled a great final over, which included the wicket of Turner and Jamie Overton, the damage was already done, with 50 runs coming off the last 25 deliveries to bring the London franchise's final score to 162/5 after 100 balls.

The Trent Rockets needed a great start to chase down the above-par total, and they started the power play well with 38 runs without losing a wicket in the first 25 balls of the over, with Tom Banton taking the risks and Joe Root playing the anchoring role at the other end. However, the next 25 balls saw the scoring rate decrease as the Spirit bowlers kept things tight by only conceding 31 runs. While Banton still looked good at the crease, Root struggled to get runs with the score reading 69/0 after 50 balls. The required rate was rising, and the hosts finally got their first breakthrough with Tom Banton being dismissed by Jamie Overton as he chopped the ball onto his stumps after a well-made 46 off 31 deliveries. The very next over saw Daniel Worral striking twice with the wickets of Roket’s skipper David Willey and Rehan Ahmed. These three early strikes put the pressure on Root, who was finally dismissed by Liam Dawson while attempting a slog sweep, which ended up being a simple catch to short fine leg. The situation went from bad to worse with Tom Alsop being retired hurt after taking a blow to the helmet from a bouncer by Overton. This left the Rockets in a tricky position at 97/4 after 75 balls, needing 66 off the last 25 deliveries. The chasing team never had a chance to come back in the game as Richard Gleeson exposed the tail with wickets of Adam Hose and Max Holden. Though Marcus Stoinis tried to bring the game as deep as possible with his knock of 35 off 22 deliveries, the Rockets' innings ended on a score of 141/6, falling 21 runs short of the Spirit’s total.

The Player of the match was Jamie Smith for his incredible knock of 52 off 34 deliveries and solid work behind the stumps.