Southern Brave won four straight games in The Hundred this year, including a big win over Welsh Fire at Sophia Gardens.
James Vince scored 73 from 50 balls in the first innings to seal the victory, and the Fire won by 140 runs, the home team never reaching the target. The Braves ended the night with a lead in the men's game.
Welsh Fire took the starting job and went first, but the Braves' hitters combined well with Alex Davis, Ruth Du Floyd and Kieran Pollard to help Vince hit a stellar 73 home runs, including seven 4-RBI and three 6-RBI.
Chris Jordan came on briefly in the last 10 balls to score a 98m 6 before knocking David Payne down on the last ball and being caught well by Willie.
Wales Fire's Haris Rauff (2-22) and Matt Henry (1-20) were the standout bowlers and the home team were hoping the conditions under lights would favour a big chase.
But in response, Luke Wells and Jonny Bairstow struggled to get the opening bowlers Akhel Hossain and Craig Overton to throw long balls, scoring just 29 runs from their first 30 balls, with the bowlers struggling with considerable swing.
As the Braves took control, two starters went down in quick succession, with Tymal Mills (4-16), Danny Briggs (3-14) and Chris Jordan (2-19) working their way through the Wales Fire order to a comfortable win.
Man of the Match: James Vince
Chris Jordan celebrates with teammate Vince after taking a wicket at Sophia Gardens.
“It was nice to win. I think it was pretty tricky when we first got up to bat. But when you get to the middle, you never know until both sides get up to bat,” Vince said.
“The way we bowled, especially up front, was fantastic and showed that the opposition were quite strong.
“Our bowlers meshed really well. Akeal and Craig meshed with the new ball, CJ and Tymal meshed through the back end. They've done that a number of times and are in a good rhythm now. I thought the bowlers were fantastic and the batsmen did a good job on that pitch too.”
What are your future plans?
The Hundred continues with four games on Tuesday. Manchester Original and Oval Invincible Women start their day at 11:30 p.m. and men start their day at 3 p.m.
Birmingham Phoenix and Northern Superchargers The women's match starts at 3pm and the men's at 6.30pm. All four matches will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Cricket.
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