Unbeaten Southern Brave in ominous form ahead of women's Hundred final

The 2023 winners warmed up for their fourth final appearance by securing their eighth group victory out of eight

ECB Media | 28/08/2025 at 17:40

Southampton: Southern Brave 106-8, Welsh Fire 77-9 - Southern Brave won by 29 runs

Southern Brave warmed up for their fourth women's Hundred final with a convincing victory over Welsh Fire in the final match of the group stage.

The 2023 winners will await either Northern Superchargers or London Spirit, who contest the Eliminator, at Lord's.

And they will do so having topped the group with a 100 per cent record after securing their eighth win in a row.

Lauren Bell, now the tournament's leading wicket-taker, led Brave to a 29-run victory.

Initially, it looked for all the world like the visitors would cause an update after a disciplined bowling performance restricting an experimental Brave batting line-up to just 106 for 8.

It took skipper Georgia Adams' resolute unbeaten innings (30 off 26) to get them up to that mark, with no batter able to break the shackles imposed by Hayley Matthews and Katie Levick.

Fire carried that belief into the start of the chase as Sophia Dunkley and Tammy Beaumont (28 off 29) began solidly but slowly, surely, the Brave's superb and well-marshalled bowling attack started to turn the screw.

A score of 50-1 in 56 balls became 56 for 5 in 68, as the Fire lost four wickets for six runs in 13 deliveries, as a slow and low pitch made strokeplay difficult.

Bell continued an outstanding tournament by finishing with the stunning figures of 4 for 6 off her full allocation – becoming this year's leading wicket-taker in the process – as the Fire limped to 77 for 9, having lost eight wickets for 27.