BP vs LS, Review | Liam Livingstone's all-round show takes Phoenix to comfortable seven-wicket win against Spirit

‌Birmingham Phoenix won the toss and chose to field, hoping to capitalize on the early seaming conditions. This turned out to be a great decision as Trent Boult cleaned up Jamie Smith for a duck on the third delivery of his over. London Spirit skipper Kane Williamson was the next man at the crease and played some elegant strokes to steady the innings. However, he was not getting much support from David Warner at the other end was struggling to time his shots. With runs coming from only one end, the London franchise could only manage 37 runs in the power play with the loss of one wicket. Warner’s struggles came to an end in the next over after smashing a short and wide delivery by Liam Livingstone straight to the mid-off fielder. Though Williamson and Ollie Pope tried their best to hold the innings together after the early breakthroughs, only 29 runs came in the next 25 balls, with the score at 66/2 after 50 balls. Trouble started brewing for Spirit as their skipper was finally dismissed for 33 after the timeout by left-arm seamer Chris Wood. As runs continued to dry up, Livingstone returned for a ten-ball over and got the wicket of Pope, who top-edged a sweep and was caught at short-fine leg. The Spirit innings was in a spot of bother with the score reading 103/4 after 75 deliveries. In the end, the visitors never got going as the last two recognized batters in Ashton Turner and Sean Dickson were also dismissed. With only 23 runs coming from the last 25 balls, the team ended on a modest total of 126/6 in the first innings.

Spirit needed early wickets in the game to give themselves a chance to defend the low score. Though Luke Wood gave them a great start by surprising Will Smeed with a searing yorker which crashed into the base of the stumps, Joe Clarke came to the crease and got off to a flyer. Despite the early breakthrough, the Phoenix had a good power play as they finished on a score of 41/1 after 25 balls. Liam Dawson was brought into the attack straight after the power play and got the wicket of Ben Duckett, who was struggling at the crease on a score of 11 off 10 deliveries. However, the breakthrough did not stop Clarke, who continued to accumulate runs until he was finally dismissed for 54 by Daniel Worrall on the 40th ball. Despite having two new batters at the crease, Phoenix were still in a comfortable position at 79/3, needing only 48 off the last 50 deliveries. In the end, it was an easy chase for the Phoenix, as Livingstone and Jacob Bethell finished the game with a 63-run stand for the fourth wicket. The target was chased down in just 65 deliveries, with the Phoenix skipper remaining unbeaten on 45 and Bethell supporting him with a cameo of 18 runs of just eight balls. With this seven-wicket win, the Birmingham franchise maintained their undefeated streak against the Spirit in the tournament with five consecutive wins in a row. 

Liam Livingstone led from the front once again with an all-round performance with figures of 2/26 in the first innings and an explosive knock of 45 from just 20 deliveries in the second, which was enough to adjudge him as the player of the match.