Southern Brave look to regoup and rebuild following hard-fought defeat

With both sides still in the hunt for a qualification place and coming off the back of morale-boosting victories, it was Welsh Fire who took the honours over Southern Brave at Cardiff to join Trent Rockets on 16 points at the summit of The Hundred table and make it a Fire double on the day.

Opting to bowl, Fire’s battery of experienced seamers were immediately into the action, Chris Woakes and Sam Cook reducing the Brave to 2-2 off seven balls, Jamie Smith and Ben McKinney both edging behind to Phil Salt.

The Cook/Salt combo also accounted for Nikhil Chaudhary after he and Marcus Stoinis had sedately taken the visitors to an underwhelming 45-3 at the halfway stage.

Not long after, Rachin Ravindra, getting big turn, snared Tristan Stubbs and Moeen Ali in successive balls, the latter caught by Joe Root off a skier.

The Brave were chugging along at barely a run a ball on a tricky surface but Stoinis added some muscular impetus, going to a 35-ball half century before hitting Sam Cook, who returned a magnificent 3-14, down deep square’s throat.

David Miller hit a couple of late sixes but Matt Short, coming on to bowl for the first time in the final five of the innings, had him caught on the edge. Jofra Archer hit a first-ball six but was gone second ball and the Brave ended with 115-8, their lowest-ever total in The Hundred, below their 118-8 against the Oval Invincibles in 2024.

With little margin for error, Archer set the tone for the Fire, delighting in getting Phil Salt with his first ball and not conceding a run until his eighth. But Short and Root kept things moving, knowing that one or two partnerships would be enough, and calmly took the score to 60 off 48 before Root departed, caught by McKinney off Chris Jordan.

Ravindra and Jordan Cox came and went but Tom Kohler-Cadmore did the needful, keeping the scoreboard ticking and supporting Short – who reached a 37-ball 50 with a scoop off Archer and made good use of the ramp throughout to the short straight boundaries – to see his side home, an anticlimactic two wides finishing things.

Southern Brave will now turn their focus to the Manchester Super Giants as the race to the eliminator tightens. The two sides go head-to-head on August 08, 18:00 PM BST at the Utilita Bowl.