Today is a ‘double double header’ day in The Hundred. In the early game Welsh Fire travelled to Southampton to take on Southern Brave. Brave were bottom of the table, with little to play for. Fire could guarantee qualification with a win and a big win would give them a major chance of qualifying directly for the final by finishing top (second and third place play off in a so-called ‘eliminator’ for the right to join them).
THE BRAVE INNINGS
Fire won the toss and decided to bowl. Brave have fared terribly with the bat all through this competition, and this one was no different. Wickets crashed from the start, and it looked like being a very short match indeed when Brave were 47-7. However Chloe Tryon was still there, and finally found some support, from wicket keeper Rhianna Southby. The eighth wicket partnership yielded 52, and Tryon completed a fine 50. However, once the big stand was broken the rest of the innings was quickly wrapped up, and Brave had only 103 to defend. Hayley Matthews with 4-14 was the pick of the bowlers, with Jess Jonassen 3-21, Freya Davies 2-14 and Shabnim Ismail 1-16 all also picking up wickets.
THE FIRE CHASE
Tammy Beaumont soon showed that there was little wrong with the pitch, finding her best form right from the start. With 34 on the board Sophia Dunkley fell to a fine catch by Danni Wyatt off Lauren Bell for 7. That proved to be Brave’s only bowling success, as Hayley Matthews followed her superb bowling with a fine innings. Beaumont passed 50 off 31 ball, bringing up the landmark with her ninth four. It fell to Matthews to make the winning hit, with 26 balls to spare as well as nine wickets. Matthews’ all round contribution quite rightly secured her player of the match. For the record Oval Invincibles are currently in a very strong position against Trent Rockets and may even win by a big enough margin to leapfrog Fire on net RR. Full scorecard of the early game here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
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