West Indian superstar Hayley Matthews continued her remarkable all-round form as Welsh Fire cruised to a commanding nine-wicket victory over bottom side Southern Brave at Utilita Bowl, the result guaranteeing the Fire a top-three place and progression to The Hundred’s knockout stage.
The Barbadian, opening the bowling, delivered figures of 4-14 with her off-breaks, before her unbeaten 35, in the slipstream of Tammy Beaumont’s 59* (40), helped the visitors knock off their target with 26 balls to spare.
Fire are now in a strong position, due to their superior run rate, to finish in top spot and qualify automatically for The Hundred Final at Lord’s on Sunday.
After Beaumont put the Brave in at the toss, Matthews dismissed the in-form Danni Wyatt, caught at deep midwicket, before Smriti Mandhana departed four balls later to the pace of Shabnim Ismail, to leave the Brave 15-2 at the end of the powerplay.
And Brave were quickly four down when Jess Jonassen had Georgia Adams stumped, before Maia Bouchier fell to give Matthews her second after Phoebe Franklin held onto a superb diving catch in the deep.
Wickets continued to fall. Freya Kemp got a feather to a Jonassen arm-ball, Naomi Dattani was bowled by a beauty from Matthews, and when Kalea Moore was stumped two balls later, the Brave were tottering on 47-7.
Chloe Tryon singlehandedly rescued the innings with an aggressive 55 (38), dominating the latter stages with boundaries down the ground and through the cover region, adding 52 with keeper-bat, Rhianna Southby.
Despite this mini fightback, the result rarely looked in doubt after the Fire’s flier, with 34 runs posted before the loss of Sophia Dunkley to the final ball of the powerplay.
Beaumont was especially strong an anything loose, working the field with sweeps and cuts, while Matthews picked the gaps behind square as the former reached her half-century in just 31 balls. The pair put on 72 in 54 deliveries to ensure Fire roared into the latter stages of the competition.
Meerkat Match Hero, Hayley Matthews, said: “Obviously the wickets are getting a bit tired, so I’ve been able to get some purchase out of it. I think just trying to hit good areas and have the batters hitting where I want them to.
“I think we’ve been really good [throughout the season]. When you look at our line-up, we’ve got a lot of experience, and we’ve played on that really well.
“The bowlers have done a really good job at making sure we don’t have to chase too big of a total. I think it’s been a complete team performance and that’s where we’ve performed really well, everyone’s been chipping in and playing their role.”
For the Welsh Fire men, they faced a disappointing end to their match against Southern Brave, which was abandoned due to rain with the Brave at 21-2 in their innings. Despite posting a record score of 181-5, highlighted by Luke Wells's 50 off 28 balls and Glenn Phillip's explosive 19-ball 76, the Fire's strong performance was overshadowed by the weather. With just 16 balls bowled and a minimum of 25 required for a result, the game was called off, securing Southern Brave's place in The Hundred Eliminator. The Brave will now compete in the Eliminator against either the Northern Superchargers or Birmingham Phoenix, pending the outcome of Phoenix’s final game against the Manchester Originals.