Brave beat Invincibles in rain-hit game for first win

Danni Wyatt of Southern BraveImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Danni Wyatt is the tournament's leading scorer with 225 runs

  • Published

The Hundred women's competition, The Oval

Oval Invincibles 79-4 (65 balls): Kapp 26* (17); Cheatle 2-6

Southern Brave 85-3 (64 balls): Wyatt 46* (37); MacDonald-Gay 1-7

Southern Brave won by seven wickets (DLS Method)

Scorecard. Table

Bottom-of-the-table Southern Brave won their first match of the women's Hundred competition with a seven-wicket victory over Oval Invincibles at The Oval.

Opener Danni Wyatt hit an unbeaten 46 as Brave chased a revised target of 83 with one ball to spare.

Put into bat, the Invincibles struggled with an excellent opening spell from Lauren Cheatle (2-6), losing Chamari Athapaththu for a third-ball duck and Alice Capsey for 19.

With the score at 38-2 after 35 balls, the match was suspended because of rain for 90 minutes and reduced to 65 balls for each team upon the resumption.

Tilly Corteen-Coleman, 16, took the wickets of Lauren Winfield-Hill and Paige Scholfield from successive balls, but Marizanne Kapp (26*) anchored the remainder of her side's innings as they closed on 79-4.

Brave's Smriti Mandhana was run out for just two early in the reply, but Wyatt was dropped twice in her innings, by Mady Villiers when on five and by Capsey, having made 14.

Maia Bouchier (16) and Freya Kemp (3) fell cheaply, but Wyatt dominated the strike to lead the defending champions towards their target and then smashed Sophia Smale for six over square leg to seal Brave's first success in six matches.

What else do you need to know?

  • After four losses and a no result, Brave recorded a win at the sixth time of asking. The defending champions still sit bottom with two games to play, while Invincibles are third, missing out on a chance to go level with leaders Welsh Fire.

  • Lauren Cheatle conceded just six runs from her 15 balls and they came from one delivery, as Capsey lashed her over mid-wicket. Cheatle got her revenge, dismissing Capsey with the following ball.

  • Chamari Athapaththu led Sri Lanka to an upset victory over India in the Asian Cup before coming to The Hundred, but she has struggled since arriving in England. She's recorded just one score of significance, a 33 against Manchester Originals, otherwise contributing scores of one, five and a duck today.

'I was quite chill out there' - what they said

Southern Brave's Danni Wyatt: "I was quite chill out there. I always knew if we took it deep and had Chloe at the other end then we'd be in with a good chance. It's been a tough campaign for us, but that can happen in the shortest form of the game.

"We have our strategy meetings, we want to go out there and entertain. We've had a successful last few years, a bad season like this was probably due. We've got to keep going and stay positive."

What is happening on Friday?

It's off to the home of cricket on Friday as London Spirit host Manchester Originals (women's 15:00 BST, men's 18:30).

It's a bottom-of-the-table clash in the men's competition with Originals propping up Spirit, while in the women's tournament the fourth-placed home side sit two places above their opponents.

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