THE HUNDRED, 2025
Craig Overton scored a quick 18 before scalping 3 wickets against Welsh Fire © Getty
The league phase of the Men’s Hundred finished in thrilling fashion as Southern Brave held out for a narrow 4-run win in a last-ball thriller against Welsh Fire. Jason Roy and Craig Overton were the architects behind the win as they condemned Fire to the bottom spot with the result while helping their team finish as high as fourth with the top 3 already decided.
It was Fire who actually began well after opting to bowl first. Three batters from Southern Brave’s top four were back in the pavilion for single-digit scores and sandwiched between those dismissals were back-to-back sixes from Roy. He was clearly batting on a different surface as those heroics were repeated again, this time against Saif Zaib.
Even though Leus du Plooy was dismissed after a brief partnership, Roy took complete charge of the proceedings. Bringing up his first fifty of the season, Roy took on Riley Meredith for a flurry of boundaries to race to 70. However, a flurry of wickets including that of Roy’s saw Brave get reduced to 129 for 7. Overton and Jordan Thompson then came up with a few lusty blows down the order to drag their side to a very good total of 167 for 7.
That total appeared to be a monumental one when Fire lost their top order inside the first three sets. Overton did the damage with the ball in the very first set as Stephen Eskinazi and Steven Smith were sent packing early. The big blow though came when Jonny Bairstow edged one behind to fall for just 5. While Tom Abell stood firm for a while, it was the partnership between Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Ben Kellaway that really turned the game on its head.
Those two added 81 for the fifth wicket to rescue the side from 51 for 4. Kellaway played second fiddle as Kohler-Cadmore absolutely laid into the bowling attack. James Coles was smashed for successive sixes on two separate occasions. With 36 needed off 21, the momentum was clearly with the batting side before the vital partnership was finally broken. From thereon, Thompson and Tymal Mills bowled in excellent fashion to pull things back. With 13 needed off 4, Kohler-Cadmore did slam the ball over the ropes but was then dismissed off the very next ball. With 6 needed off the last ball, Brave were now the clear favourites as Thompson closed out the game by conceding only a single.
Brief scores: Southern Brave 167/7 in 100 balls (Jason Roy 70; David Payne 2/17) beat Welsh Fire 163/6 in 100 balls (Tom Kohler-Cadmore 84; Craig Overton 3/22) by 4 runs
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