Welsh Fire defeated Southern Brave by six wickets at The Rose Bowl in Southampton to start their Men’s Hundred campaign. Phil Salt scored a cool, undefeated 47 off 37. Fire’s disciplined bowling limited Brave to 135 for 7 despite 40s from David Miller and Thomas Rew.
After that, Salt formed beneficial alliances with Joe Root and Rachin Ravindra. However, there was a stutter toward the end before Fire crossed the finish line with two deliveries remaining.
With four boundaries—three from Luke Wood and one from Jofra Archer—Matthew Short set the pace for the chase. But Daniel Worrall’s ball was slow and wide, and Short was dismissed for 20 off 15. Root and Salt added 31 off 26 to keep Fire on course on a pitch that was difficult for the hitters.
The second wicket pair maintained consistent strike rotation to keep the scorecard moving, but aside from a few fours for Root, the boundaries didn’t arrive often. However, the partnership ended abruptly when Root was run out for a run-a-ball 15 due to a mistake.
At that point, Fire was 60 for 2 in 47 balls, but thanks to Salt and Ravindra’s 49-run partnership, which came off just 27 balls, they were 109 for 3 in 73 balls. After a 25-ball boundary drought, Salt hit a Wood delivery over long on for a four and then another boundary to put Fire over 100 in 70 balls, while Ravindra scored the crucial boundaries.
With the wickets of Jordan Jox and Ravindra, Nikhil Chaudhary created some nervous moments in the opposition camp. Adil Rashid and Archer then produced calm spells, leaving Fire needing nine off five.
Salt completed it with a six over mid-wicket after Asa Tribe hit Chris Jordan for a four.
Fire chose to field on a tacky surface earlier, and their seamers did a good job of carrying out their strategies. Sam Cook bowled Jamie Smith for three with an early leg-cutter. After struggling to get going, Ben McKinney was eventually dismissed for a nine-ball four by Marco Jansen. With a 41 off 30 balls in his Hundred debut, 18-year-old Rew looked much more fluid. Five fours and a six were included in this.
Miller, on the other hand, had trouble scoring at first and needed 18 deliveries to reach 10. As Rew dropped to Jansen and Matt Short cheaply dismissed Tristan Stubbs with a superb boundary grab from Ben Kellaway, the pressure on Brave increased.
Chaudhary hit three fours toward the finish, and Miller eventually broke loose with 34 from his next 17 balls, including a six off Lockie Ferguson. Miller’s tenure ended with a direct hit from Ravindra off the penultimate ball after the final set of five wasn’t particularly profitable.
Brief scores: Welsh Fire 138/4 in 98 balls (Phil Salt 47*, Rachin Ravindra 24, Nikhil Chaudhary 2-19) defeated Southern Brave 135/7 in 100 balls (David Miller 44, Thomas Rew 41, Marco Jansen 2-17) by 6 wickets.
