Manchester Super Giants 138 for 9 (Seifert 67, Livingstone 2-14) beat London Spirit 131 for 6 (Livingstone 69, Atkinson 2-15)

It could have gone either way. With 56 wanted from 30 balls the game was in the balance. Livingstone and the classy South African Dewald Brevis had been cautiously rebuilding after three wickets had fallen inside the first 46 balls.

Then, Spirit captain Livingstone got to work, taking 12 off Noor Ahmad’s final five, including a signature leg-side sweep, his third six of the innings. Another trademark slog sweep brought up his fifty off 32 balls, and a slapped four through extra cover appeared to swing the game in the Spirit’s favour.

With 10 balls left, Spirit needed 21. Atkinson, who had earlier shown his class with the new ball, delivered a clutch five deliveries, including Brevis’ wicket, caught-and-bowled.

With five balls remaining and the Spirit needing 12, Baker was entrusted with seeing out the innings. A single and a scampered two tilted the scales in the Super Giants’ favour, and with Livingstone on strike, Baker went full and fast to clatter into his stumps.

Earlier in the piece, Super Giants’ opener Tim Seifert got his career in The Hundred off to an electric start, clubbing 67 from 45 balls to hold the innings together after a sluggish start. Seifert was the key figure in steering the visitors to 105 for 2 after 67 balls, before a dramatic collapse saw them lose seven wickets to splutter up to 138 for 9.

Central to the strangle was Livingstone, who bowled 20 of the final 25 deliveries and took two wickets for just 14 runs. The new skipper carried on with the bat, striking five leg-side sixes in his 40-ball 69, but ultimately it was the Super Giants, and their English cohort of pacemen, who triumphed.

Despite finishing just short, Livingstone was named the Meerkat Match Hero: “It was a really good game of cricket, a really good wicket, just a shame we fell short. It was never the plan (to bowl 20 of the last 25 balls) but it came out nicely so I thought, whatever was working, just stick with it.

“The wicket was a bit up and down, it was one of those pitches where they were about par, but we just got a bit too far behind the rate to catch up in the end.

“We bowled some really good stuff through the middle, dragged it back towards the end, and we nearly chased it down. The stats don’t tend to favour chasing here at Lord’s, so it’s a good start and something we can build on.”