SunRisers Leeds began their campaign in The Hundred with a commanding seven-wicket victory over MI London at The Kia Oval. The contest marked the opening women’s fixture of the tournament and featured teams operating under new names following recent overseas investment. SunRisers, who captured the title last year as Northern Superchargers, restricted MI London to 107-8 in their 100 deliveries. The turning point came when the home side broke an initial opening partnership of 57 runs between Hayley Matthews, who scored 33, and Danni Wyatt-Hodge, contributing 29.
In pursuit of the target, SunRisers Leeds completed their objective with 31 balls remaining, losing just three wickets. Australian opener Phoebe Litchfield led the effort with 43 runs from 26 deliveries, while fellow Australian Annabel Sutherland added an unbeaten 30 from 23 balls. Captain Dani Gibson struck the decisive boundary while remaining unbeaten on 12 from 7 deliveries. The pace of victory reflected the one-sided nature of the contest, with Litchfield’s performance drawing particular attention for its quality.
Among MI London’s batting lineup, the wicket-taking efforts were distributed across the SunRisers bowling attack. Hannah Baker took 2-16, while Gibson captured 2-17 and Deepti Sharma claimed 2-20. Gibson, purchased for £190k at the Hundred auction earlier this year as the most expensive English player acquired, demonstrated her value with her contribution. MI London lost key batters including West Indies captain Matthews and New Zealand skipper Melie Kerr, the latter falling to Baker’s leg-spin bowling.
A concern emerged during the match when Cross sustained a shoulder injury while fielding. The incident occurred shortly after she took a running catch at long-on to dismiss Wyatt-Hodge. Cross was fielding at extra-cover when the injury happened, prompting her to leave the field in discomfort. Medical assessments determined she had not dislocated her shoulder, though scans were scheduled to assess the extent of the injury.