SunRisers Leeds sneak five-run win over Southern Brave

Mitchell Marsh and Dan Lawrence struck brutal half-centuries as SunRisers Leeds edged past Southern Brave despite Adil Rashid’s three wickets in five balls, in a tight encounter at Headingley to register their first win of the competition.Having made 41 on his debut earlier in the week, Marsh smashed 69 from 34 balls on his first home appearance to set the platform for his side before Lawrence’s 24-ball half-century took the hosts to 187-5, a total they were able to defend despite a late flurry from Tristan Stubbs 43* from 20. Marsh shared an outstanding opening stand of 111 in 56 balls with Ryan Rickelton which was finally broken when Rickelton (37 off 27) top-edged to Dan Worrall to give Adil Rashid the breakthrough.The veteran leggie struck again three balls later when Marsh, who hit six sixes, drilled a catch to Chris Jordan at extra cover, and Zak Crawley immediately succumbed to a 43mph floater from Rashid, falling for a golden duck.Harry Brook soon followed him after being cleaned up by Marcus Stoinis for 3 as Brave dragged themselves back into the game but Lawrence responded by launching successive sixes off Jofra Archer, who leaked 47 runs from 20 wicketless deliveries. Lawrence finished unbeaten on 51 after sharing a partnership of 67 in 30 deliveries with Tom Alsop (21 off 10) to set Brave 188 to win.Ben McKinney began the chase at electric speed, crunching 44 from 23 before falling to his Durham teammate Matt Potts, and Jamie Smith also showed real aggression in his 18-ball 30, striking three sixes.Smith’s innings was ended by Matthew Revis, caught at long-on by Brook, and David Miller could only make 9 before becoming Abrar Ahmed’s first victim, holing out to Revis.Stoinis looked in good touch for his 16-ball 31 but Ahmed struck again to leave Brave four down, needing 67 from 33. Victory appeared within reach when Stubbs hit Revis for successive sixes and then dispatched Potts for consecutive fours but Nathan Ellis was superb at the death, conceding just nine from his final 10 deliveries and claiming the wicket of Nikhil Chaudhary.

With 21 required from Potts’ final five, the SunRisers held on for a five-run victory despite the best efforts of Stubbs, who cleared the ropes for a third time.Southern Brave will next go up head-to-head against MI London on Monday, and look to get back to winning ways.