Wareham's First Fifty Fires Welsh Fire Past London Spirit in Final-Hundred Dead Rubber
Welsh Fire beat London Spirit by 15 runs in their final match of The Hundred women's competition at Sophia Gardens, with Australian all-rounder Georgia Wareham scoring her first half-century in the format.
Both sides had already been eliminated from knockout contention before the 31st match of the competition, meaning the result shaped only the lower half of the table. Welsh Fire finished fifth, London Spirit sixth BBC Sport.
London Spirit won the toss and chose to field first, a decision that looked sound as Welsh Fire struggled to build momentum in their 100-ball innings — The Hundred gives each team 100 deliveries, roughly 16.5 six-ball overs, to post a total. Enter Wareham. The Australian spin bowler, who has featured 48 times for her country in international cricket, struck 50 from 33 balls to rescue an innings that was losing its way. Her knock lifted Welsh Fire to 138-7 BBC Sport.
It was a notable personal milestone. Wareham has been part of cup-winning sides in 2018, 2020 and 2023, and took three wickets in the 2024 Women's Hundred final when these same two teams met for the title — a match London Spirit won to become champions for the first time. This time, in a fixture stripped of those stakes, Wareham delivered with the bat instead of the ball.
The chase never quite caught fire for Spirit. Welsh Fire seamer Grace Potts tore through the top order inside the powerplay — the opening set of 25 balls where fielding restrictions give batters their best chance to score freely. Potts finished with 3-23, dismissing Spirit's top three and claiming two wickets in two consecutive balls to remove Grace Harris and Marie Kelly BBC Sport.
Charlie Dean top-scored for London Spirit with 27, but her dismissal at 75-6 effectively ended the contest as a contest. Spirit closed on 123 from 99 balls, 15 runs short BBC Sport.
For two sides whose 2024 meeting decided a championship, this was a quieter affair — a dead rubber played in late summer with no knockout implications on either side. Yet it still produced a performance worth noting. Wareham's first Hundred fifty arrived in her final appearance of the campaign, and Potts's new-ball spell — three wickets inside the first 25 balls — was the kind of burst that turns a modest total into a match-winning one.
Welsh Fire end the 2026 season above London Spirit in the table. Neither will feature in the knockout stages.
