Southern Brave cruised to a nine-wicket victory over Birmingham Phoenix in The Hundred at Utilita Bowl on Sunday as Jofra Archer made his mark.
Brave won the toss and chose to bowl, which looked to be a good decision early on as Phoenix struggled to get the ball away and score freely.
Facing 90mph bowling from Archer, who was sporting a Brave bucket-hat when not charging in, Joe Clarke was the only Birmingham batter to offer some resistance with 36 from 27 balls.
Archer finished with 2-16 from his 20, with Michael Bracewell taking the starring role with his off spin on a tricky pitch claiming 3-16 from 15 balls as Phoenix finished on a below-par 106-7.
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Southern Brave opened with the right-hand, left-hand combination of James Vince (41 off 30) and Leus Du Plooy (32 off 28) and the pair rarely looked troubled, rotating the strike and picking up boundaries.
Although Brave finished the powerplay on the same score as Phoenix, they had the time to build through their innings, which Vince capitalised on and passed the milestone of 1,000 runs in The Hundred in the process – the third player to do so already this season after Nat Sciver-Brunt and Phil Salt.
When Vince was caught behind for 41 only 32 runs were needed, and Du Plooy and Jason Roy (18 off 12) chased them down with 19 balls remaining as Brave cruised to a second win of the campaign.
How do matches work?
One hundred balls a side, the team with the most runs wins. It is as simple as that.Five bowlers can bowl up to 20 balls in an innings, including five or 10 in a row.The traditional six-ball overs seen in other forms of cricket are not used in The Hundred, with 10 balls bowled before a change of ends.The powerplay is for the first 25 balls of an innings, with only two fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle.A 25-ball-a-side game is the minimum length that can be played in the event of wet weather.
Watch every match across the women’s and men’s competitions live on Sky Sports from August 5-31.
