Spirit of London 195 for 4 (Lawrence 93). Trend Rockets 193 for 5 by two runs (Root 72*).
The Spirit captain scored a 49-ball 93, including a brilliant 10 fours and three sixes, as the home side posted 195 for 4.
Crawley produced several powerful shots, including the first six of the game when he deposited Sams at deep square leg. Lawrence also cleared the ropes with a six off Ish Sodhi, but the Lex spinner made the breakthrough as Crawley was taken to long-off for 30 from 15. Sams dives and Sodhi takes the wicket of Sams diving. A diving catch in the deep.
Lawrence smashed the spinner for a six and then drove Sams to the point boundary to reach his half-century from 33 runs, part way through a set where the bowler lost 16 runs and the skipper continued to accelerate, scoring 17 runs in the next set. From root.
In the end, Lawrence was caught neatly at the fence by Sam Hayne, who brought the ball up and raced back into the boundary to complete the catch. However, Ravi Bopara kept up the Spirit’s pace with 25 from just 13, including two sixes in Cook’s final set.
Don Worrall started the Rockets’ reply with an inswinging yorker that dropped David Malan three balls later. The Australian followed that up with a 12-ball 15 off the wicket of the dangerous Alex Hales. But Root eclipsed Worrall’s impressive figures – he finished 2 for 23 – and he and Tom Kohler-Cotmore combined to revive the Rockets. 30 to 57.
Kohler-Cotmore was eventually dismissed by Liam Dawson, caught at mid-off for 23 for 33, but Root continued to attack, eventually reaching 50 with a reverse-sweep off Matt Critchley.
He added 69 from 31 with Colin Munro before the left-hander was caught at the boundary only for Sams – who came up with another 52 from 18 – to lift the Rockets’ confidence. But when he was in front of Ellis, he had spirit.