Aussie batters Phoebe Litchfield and Mitch Marsh made solid contributions on opening night for Sunrisers Leeds
Phoebe Litchfield followed up her T20 World Cup final heroics on a strong opening night for the Aussie contingent in England’s Hundred competition as MI London hosted Sunrisers Leeds at The Oval.
The 23-year-old batting star registered a sprightly 26-ball 43 as Sunrisers thrashed MI London, chasing down a victory target of 108 with seven wickets and 31 balls to spare to kick off the women’s tournament.
Australia men’s T20 captain Mitch Marsh then began his Hundred career with a quickfire 41, but his Sunrisers went down to the reigning champions in the first match of the men’s competition in the battle between two newly-named teams.
Marsh combined with South African Ryan Rickelton (25 off 16) to give their side a rapid start after being sent in, the latter hitting three sixes in the space of five deliveries before succumbing lbw to Sam Curran soon after.
Marsh also cleared the rope thrice in his 27-ball knock, but the Sunrisers badly lost their way after he spooned a catch to cover off Tom Curran as wiry paceman Richard Gleeson tore through the middle order with 4-25.
Sunrisers were bowled out for 143 with a ball to spare, which Sam Curran (60 not out off 39) and Nicholas Pooran (58no off 22) overhauled with ease as they put on an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 93 to see MI London home with 16 balls to spare.
Australian quick Nathan Ellis claimed one of the three MI London wickets to fall to return a respectable 1-22 from his 20-ball spell.
Earlier, Litchfield, the women’s leading run-scorer in 2025, made a shaky start when she was involved in the run out of compatriot Jess Jonassen for 14.
Sunrisers, formerly Northern Superchargers, had gone all the way in last year’s tournament and restricted their opponents, rebranded from Oval Invincibles, to 8-107 after electing to bowl in the opening game of the new season.
England allrounder Dani Gibson claimed two wickets as did leg-spinner Hannah Baker and India’s Deepti Sharma, with MI London fading after an opening 56-run stand between Hayley Matthews (33) and Danni Wyatt-Hodge (29).
Litchfield made a crucial 48 in Australia’s World Cup final win over England at Lord’s earlier this month and she was in imperious touch south of the River Thames after Bryony Smith and Jonassen departed cheaply.
The Aussie opener made up for her mistake that led to Jonassen’s downfall with seven fours and a six in a classy knock that broke the back of the chase.
Litchfield was bowled by Scotland spinner Kirstie Gordon with 27 still required but Annabel Sutherland made an unbeaten 30 and Gibson contributed 12no to get Sunrisers over the line with ease.
“It was a silly run out (of Jonassen), but when the target is less than 120, then you’re in the game. We wanted to go out there positively and take the game on and you saw that,” player of the match Litchfield said afterwards.
“The bowlers bowled really well in restricting them.
“We adapted, rolled our fingers over (the ball), changed pace and mixed up their swing path.
“Then our spinners held their line and length bravely. It worked out and we took our catches. That’s a winning formula.”
The Hundred 2026 women’s standings
Team
Matches played
M
Wins
W
Losses
L
Ties
T
Drawn
D
No results
N/R
Net Run Rate
NRR
Deductions
Ded.
Batting Bonus
Bat
Bowling Bonus
Bowl
Total points
PTS
1
SLW
1
1
0
0
0
0
2.549
0
0
0
4
2
BPW
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
LSW
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
MSW
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
5
SBW
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
6
TRW
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
7
WFW
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
8
MLW
1
0
1
0
0
0
-2.549
0
0
0
0
Legend
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
D: Drawn
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
Bat: Batting Bonus
Bowl: Bowling Bonus
PTS: Total points
Australians in the Hundred
(* denotes bought in auction)
Birmingham Phoenix
Men: Mitch Owen £130,000 (A$244,000)
Women: Ellyse Perry £100,000 (A$187,436), Alana King* £37,500 (A$70,000), Lucy Hamilton withdrawn
London Spirit
Men: Adam Zampa £190,000 (A$357,000), Andrew Tye
Women: Grace Harris £70,000 (A$131,000)
Manchester Super Giants
Women: Meg Lanning £95,000 (A$178,000), Maitlan Brown* £40,000 (A$75,000)
MI London
Women: Nicola Carey* £95,000 (A$178,000)
Southern Brave
Men: Marcus Stoinis £150,000 (A$282,000), Nikhil Chaudhary* £31,000 (A$58,000)
Women: Sophie Molineux* £47,500 (A$89,000), Lizelle Lee £27,500 (A$53,000)
Sunrisers Leeds
Men: Mitch Marsh £200,000 (A$376,000), Nathan Ellis £145,000 (A$278,000)
Women: Annabel Sutherland £130,000 (A$244,000), Phoebe Litchfield £120,000 (A$225,000), Jess Jonassen* £110,000 (A$206,000)
Trent Rockets
Men: Tim David £350,000 (A$658,000)
Women: Beth Mooney* £210,000 ($A394,000), Ashleigh Gardner £100,000 (A$187,000), Kim Garth £42,000 (A$79,000), Sam Bates £15,000 (A$29,000)
Welsh Fire
Men: Matt Short* £75,000 (A$140,978)
Women: Georgia Wareham £100,000 (A$187,000), Georgia Voll £80,000 (A$150,000), Heather Graham* £27,500 (A$52,000)
