Kane Williamson and David Warner made their Hundred debut for the London Spirit in the opening game of the 2025 edition on Tuesday, August 5, in the London derby against the two-time defending champions Oval Invincibles. As the two walked through the Lord's Long Room to get ready to bat, it was a nostalgia-dipped moment for the IPL and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) fans seeing the two greats of the game together again, reuniting after four long years, albeit for a different team in a different competition.
Williamson and Warner were the two leaders in the group for Sunrisers Hyderabad, playing alongside each other for six seasons in the IPL, starting in 2015. Williamson was the franchise's captain in 2018 when Warner was suspended due to the Sandpaper Gate and took over the leadership eventually mid-season in 2021 from the Australian. Warner led the franchise to an IPL title in 2016 while Williamson still wasn't a regular in the side, before producing a mammoth 735-run season while leading SRH to the final in 2018.
Williamson and Warner were supposed to play alongside each other in this year's PSL as well for the Karachi Kings, but the former had a commentary gig in the IPL, and even though he did show up for the latter half, he didn't play a single game. Warner led the franchise to the playoffs.
As for the Tuesday clash, Williamson decided to bat first for the Spirit after winning the toss, looking at how the women's game panned out. However, it was a collapse of the highest order for the home team, getting dismissed for just 80. Sam Curran and Rashid Khan ran through the Spirit line-up. Spirit did take four wickets of the Invincibles; however, 80 was never going to be a safe score on any pitch against any opposition.
The Spirit were also missing their three England internationals, who just got done with a five-match Test series a day ago and the Lord's side will be better when all of Jamie Smith, Ollie Pope and Jamie Overton return.
