WOMEN’S HUNDRED – 2025
Sophie Devine was named Player of the Match © Getty
Danni Wyatt-Hodge’s 59, an all-round show from Sophie Devine, and a combined bowling effort saw Southern Brave climb to the top of the points table with a 15-run victory over Birmingham Phoenix in Southampton on Sunday. Devine and Lauren Bell’s bowling at the death undid the damage from Sterre Kalis’s fighting knock of 44 that kept Phoenix in the chase despite an early collapse after Brave posted 139 in their innings.
Put in to bat first, Brave lost Maia Bouchier cheaply but Wyatt-Hodge gave them a fairly brisk start. The opener put on a 48-run stand with Laura Wolvaardt (28 off 19) and another worth 52 runs with Devine (27 off 25) to comfortably take the team past the 100-run mark by the 73rd ball. In the following set, the English woman raised her 34-ball half-century but fell soon after.
Wyatt-Hodge’s wicket triggered a backend collapse which saw Brave slip from 120/2 to 135/7 before eventually setting Phoenix a competitive 140-run target.
Tilly Corteen-Coleman got Brave off to a great start with the ball by sending back Emma Lamb and Marie Kelly on the first and the third delivery of her first set itself. Lauren Bell joined the party, and dismissed Georgia Voll for 10 to reduce Phoenix to 22/3 by the 18th ball.
Skipper Ellyse Perry (26 off 21) and Amy Jones (20 off 14) attempted to repair the chase with their 37-run partnership that was broken by Chloe Tryon courtesy a leaping stunner from Devine. The New Zealander then got the big fish – Perry – before her 36-run stand with Kalis could turn threatening.
Kalis started throwing her bat at everything, reigniting the hopes of a win with some spectacular late hitting. Her 34-ball effort included seven boundaries. At the other end, however, Devine picked up her second in Ailsa Lister and then affected the run out of Megan Schutt to help Brave claw back. The final nail in the coffin was eventually the wicket of Kalis that Bell bagged in the last set, leaving Phoenix well short of the mark.
Brief scores: Southern Brave 139/7 in 100 balls (Danni Wyatt-Hodge 59, Laura Wolvaardt 28, Sophie Devine 27; Em Arlott 2-19, Megan Schutt 2-23) beat Birmingham Phoenix 124 all out in 99 balls (Sterre Kalis 44, ellyse Perry 26;Lauren Bell 3-17, Tilly Corteen-Coleman 2-16, Sophie Devine 2-28) by 15 runs
© Cricbuzz
