With remarkable figures of 3 for 7 from her 20 balls, brave captain Sophie Molineux led the way. Only teammate Lauren Bell, who took 4 for 6 against Welsh Fire last season, had more economical figures in the competition’s history. “I thought Tilly bowled really well from that top end as well and Glenny played a massive role there in the middle doing what she does best.”
With a five-wicket victory over London Spirit at Lord’s, Southern Brave increased their advantage at the top of the table and appeared certain to secure the first place in the Hundred final.
With their outstanding control and variety, the table-toppers demonstrated why they are thought to have the strongest bowling attack in the competition, stifling a Spirit batting lineup that never appeared to be able to escape them.
Molineux stated, “The pitch had a little bit in it for the spinners.”
The Spirit’s score was never going to be sufficient on a good Lord’s surface, even though Marizanne Kapp dismissed Lizelle Lee caught-and-bowled from the fifth ball of the reply and went back to bowl the in-form Jemimah Rodrigues.
The Brave stumbled across the finish line, losing Bouchier and Molineux (23) with one run needed (the latter was expertly caught by Deandra Dottin at midwicket) before they reached home with seven balls remaining. Maia Bouchier led the team in scoring with 46 from 38.
From the beginning, establishing a competitive goal appeared to be a challenging undertaking for the Spirit. After losing both Amy Jones and Marie Kelly to Molineux, Kapp closed the powerplay brilliantly with back-to-back fours off Bell, bringing them to 22 for 2.
The South African combination of Kapp and Nadine de Klerk was under a lot of strain after Sarah Glenn’s entrance saw the back of Grace Harris and later Sterre Kalis.
They struggled against the unrelentingly tight Brave bowling, adding 27 from 29 balls before Jodi Grewcock caught Kapp at point off Tilly Corteen-Coleman for 34 from 27.
The home team closed on 114 for 8, needing to break the record for the lowest total successfully defended at Lord’s if they were to win. De Klerk’s bat gave them a brief boost when she launched Glenn for two maximums, but the returning Molineux then removed Dottin, and de Klerk fell to Corteen-Coleman.
The Spirit only has one victory from their first four games after failing to do so, but they are still in the running for an eliminator position as the Hundred approaches its halfway point.
