Our new Prime Minister Andy Burnham was apparently a bit of a cricketer in his youth – a recent Instagram post shows him as a teenager in some very 70s-looking “Devon cream” cricket whites. Prior to becoming PM, Burnham enjoyed considerable popularity as Mayor of Manchester, and his governing philosophy has therefore been dubbed “Manchesterism”. What “Manchesterism” actually means is really quite tricky to pin down; but it can in part be defined as the antithesis to what might be called “Londonism” – an end to direct rule from the centre and more power to local and regional authorities. London is over: Manchester is the new black!

So if Mr Burnham was keeping half an eye on The Cricket this afternoon, he might have allowed himself a satisfied smile as Manchester’s freshly rebranded Super Giants squished the London Spirit with a whopping 41 balls to open their account in this year’s Hundred at Lord’s.

The result, it has to be said, owed less to MSG being good than to London Spirit being really really bad. A Jon Lewis team having a batting disaster, you say? 2025 called – they want their England coach back!

Indeed, as the wickets rained-down at the Home of Cricket, London Spirit General Manager Heather Knight and Head Coach Jon Lewis sat at the back of the dugout sharing a joke, perhaps reminiscing about the old times – Bondi… Coogee… losing by an innings at The ‘G’ – thems were the days!

To be fair to London Spirit, the first ball went pretty well – a loosener from Grace Ballinger was driven down the ground by Grace Harris for 4, to whoops from the large Spirit social media team who had set up camp in the Media Centre. But that was about as good as it got. Harris holed out 4 balls later, and Marie Kelly should have been following her back to the pavillion shortly afterwards but was dropped by Richa Ghosh behind the stumps. (It wasn’t the easiest chance for the Indian wicket-keeper, but having got a good glove on it you’d expect her to have held on.)

After scoring a brace of 50s here in the Test against India, normal Amy Jones service was resumed with a golden duck as Richa reprieved herself the following ball. And then Spirit’s problems really started!

Ryana MacDonald-Gay was the main beneficiary, taking 4-17 as Spirit collapsed in a heap to 80 all out. If it hadn’t been for Marizanne Kapp taking Maitlan Brown to the cleaners, hitting two 6s and a 4 off one set towards the end of the powerplay, it would have looked a lot worse too. Probably not quite down there with the time Birmingham Phoenix were bowled out for 54 by the Northern Superchargers… but not far off.

Defending just 80, London Spirit’s bowlers were on a slow train to nowhere. Marizanne Kapp took two wickets in two balls to get rid of Smriti Mandhana and… someone else! (Ok… ok… it was Grace Scrivens [BINGO].) But she was bowled out within 30 balls, having sent down two double-sets; and although Hannah Rainey was finding a bit of swing under the first clouds we’ve seen in London for about two months, Meg Lanning and Paige Scholfield were happy to just knock it around. Rainey did eventually pick up Lanning for a maiden Hundred wicket; but Richa was soon out there doing Richa things (ie. hitting 6s), and not to be outdone, Scholfield joined her at the end, walloping Josie Groves into the Mound Stand to finish the job.

If I’m being honest, I’m yet to be convinced that Manchesterism is the answer to all our problems. And… we have many – including a widening gap between rich and poor, and our public assets being sold off to overseas billionaires! (Remind you of anything?) Similarly, the jury’s still out on whether Manchester Super Giants are the answer to anyone’s cricketing problems; but this is such a short competition that momentum is everything, and as they top the table tonight on NRR, they are the ones with the ball.