Deepti Sharma's maximum with two balls to spare secured victory for Heather Knight's side on their home turf
Lord's: Welsh Fire 115-8, London Spirit 118-6 - London Spirit won by four wickets
London Spirit chased down 115 to beat Welsh Fire and claim The Hundred title in front of a record 22,008 fans at Lord's.
In another tense encounter, it was left to Indian all-rounder Deepti Sharma and Charlie Dean – one-time adversaries from another tense finish on the same ground – to get their team over the line, Sharma finishing the job with a six over long-on with just three balls left.
For a moment, Sharma's strike hung in the air and looked set to be taken by Shabnim Ismail at long-on, but the ball evaded the South African quick to bring an end to a topsy-turvy encounter that swung this way and that.
For Ashley Noffke and Heather Knight's Spirit it signifies their first trophy in The Hundred.
Inspired with the ball, Shabnim Ismail couldn't complete the dismissal of Deepti Sharma as Spirit got over the line (ECB via Getty Images)
Having opted to bowl first at the top of the day, Spirit were initially sloppy - too often straying down the leg-side - but they were soon into their work, Tara Norris seeing the back off Sophia Dunkley.
With a new batter at the crease, Dean tightened the screw – conceding no runs from her first five balls – before her leg-spinning colleague Sarah Glenn struck the first decisive blows of the game, removing Tammy Beaumont and Sarah Bryce across three balls.
That brought Hayley Matthews and Jess Jonassen together, and they utilized every ounce of their international experience to rebuild and take Fire from a potentially perilous 32 for 3 to an altogether more stable 84 for 4, by the time Matthews nicked Eva Gray behind.
Jonassen carried on to make a fine 54, the backbone of her team's 115 for 8, and very much a total that had the Welsh Fire in the game.
A record crowd for a women's Hundred match took in the dramatic final (ECB via Getty Images)
Meg Lanning (4) has made a habit of getting Spirit ahead of the rate in run chases but she had to reckon with the pace and bite of Ismail, who bowled the former Australian captain with a ball that nipped back viciously.
It began a trend of Ismail taking key wickets as Fire fought gamely to defend their 115.
Running in hard and using the slope to her advantage, she clean-bowled both Knight (24) and Dani Gibson (22) at times when Spirit looked set to accelerate away – Gibson in particular had threatened to steal the day, hitting five fours from her first six balls to change the momentum of the game, but even after getting her side ahead of the game she was no match for Ismail's fire.
Unfortunately for the Cardiff side, Ismail's heroics weren't enough to claim the spoils. Spirit's chase was built around Georgia Redmayne, who made a steely 34, and laid the foundations for Knight, Gibson and then Sharma to secure the trophy.
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