Livingstone, Clarke pull off big win for Birmingham Phoenix

Liam Livingstone dismissed David Warner and Ollie Pope in the middle overs, and then returned to smash five sixes in his 20-ball 45. Joe Clarke scored 54 off 25 as the efforts of this pair combined to take Birmingham Phoenix to a dominating seven-wicket @L0$ over London Spirit at Edgbaston.

Trent Boult struck on the second ball of the game after Livingstone chose to bowl as he cleaned up Jamie Smith for a duck. Kane Williamson accentuated the slow start with three successive fours off Tim Southee in the last set of the PowerPlay, pushing the team to 37/1. Livingstone then brought himself on and saw the back of David Warner, who struggled for rhythm from the beginning and ended up hitting one tamely to mid-off. Short stands came through the middle overs but there was still no show of urgency or risk. Williamson (33 off 29), Ollie Pope (23 off 17), Ashton Turner (20 off 15) and Sean Dickson (16 off 15) all chipped in to push the team ahead, but not with enough venom to secure a big total for their bowlers to work with.

That perhaps was down to Livingstone and his bowlers repeatedly making dents just when a stand was starting to heat up. The captain took out Pope while Boult came back and struck to dismiss Turner. Only two sixes were hit in the innings – one each from Turner and Dickson – as Spirit limped to 126/6.

Luke Wood then piqued the interests of the Spirit faithful in the crowd by dismissing Will Smeed on the second ball. But Clarke walked in with murderous intent to quickly extinguish any hopes of a total defence. He hit Wood for four boundaries in the same set of 10 balls and got one each off Dan Worrall and Richard Gleeson too. He then launched Olly Stone for a 94m six to round off the PowerPlay on 41/1. Liam Dawson ended Ben Duckett's stay in the next set, but Clarke continued to pile on the quick runs by going 6 4 4 against Gleeson.

He got to his half-century off 23 balls but fell four deliveries later to Worrall. But almost seamlessly, Livingstone took over from that point on. He watched from the other end as Jacob Bethell smashed two sixes against Worall, before laying into Stone with one four and two sixes. Livingstone then hit three sixes off Gleeson – the third securing the comprehensive victory.

@B0$London Spirit 126/6 in 100 balls (Kane Williamson 33, Ollie Pope 23; Liam Livingstone 2-26, Trent Boult 2-20) lost to Birmingham Phoenix 131/3 in 65 balls (Joe Clarke 54, Liam Livingstone 45*; Liam Dawson 1-8) by 7 wickets