Fire 18-0published at 10 balls
Much tighter from Craig Overton with three dots and two singles from his first set. Jonny Bairstow off the mark now.
Summary
Brave's reply stalls after Vince out for 40
Bairstow (72) & Duckett (53) post first 100 partnership of competition for Fire
Fire won their opener, Brave lost
Fire 18-0published at 10 balls
Postpublished at 18:36 British Summer Time 27 July 2021
Lydia Greenway
Ex-England batter on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports ExtraThese are pretty short boundaries, I'm sure we'll be in for a treat.
Postpublished at 18:36 British Summer Time 27 July 2021
When England played a T20 here a few weeks ago the pitch was slow and the most effective way of scoring was to actually hit square of the wicket to the longer boundaries. Tom Banton has shown this is a very different pitch, though.
Postpublished at 18:34 British Summer Time 27 July 2021
Ffion Wynne
BBC Sport at Sophia GardensOpening with spin on Cardiff's short straight boundaries was always going to be a gamble. The sun has come out and the crowd are making a fair amount of noise for Tom Banton, despite the reduced numbers.
Fire 16-0published at 4 balls
Biff, bash, bosh. Tom Banton hits another boundary, hitting Danny Briggs behind square.
Postpublished at 18:33 British Summer Time 27 July 2021
Aatif Nawaz
BBC Radio 5 Live Sports ExtraIt could a run-fest here at Sophia Gardens, what a shot and what a start.
Postpublished at 18:33 British Summer Time 27 July 2021
Lydia Greenway
Ex-England batter on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports ExtraBrilliant from Banton, he's such an entertainer with the bat. That shot has emphasised the point of how short the boundary is.
Fire 12-0published at 3 balls
Tom Banton with six again! Great use of the feet, although this one is a bit flatter it still clears the fielder at long on. What a start for Welsh Fire.
Media caption, Back-to-back sixes for Banton
Fire 6-0published at 2 balls
Tom Banton goes big off the second ball. He skips down the track and whacks slow-left armer Danny Briggs right back over his head for six.
Opening batters: Jonny Bairstow & Tom Bantonpublished at 18:30 British Summer Time 27 July 2021
A powerful opening pair for Welsh Fire. The sun is cracking the flags in Cardiff now after a bit of cloud for the women's match earlier.
The Southern Brave will start with spin via Danny Briggs.
Image source, BBC Sport
Image source, BBC SportPostpublished at 18:28 British Summer Time 27 July 2021
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End of twitter postReduced numbers in Cardiffpublished at 18:27 British Summer Time 27 July 2021
You may notice there are fewer spectators at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff this evening.
This is because the number of fans able to attend was reduced to a few thousand due to social distancing guidelines to comply with measures by the Welsh public health authorities.
Tickets were actually taken off sale a few weeks ago, but the restrictions will be eased for subsequent matches when 5,300 spectators allowed to attend.
Postpublished at 18:25 British Summer Time 27 July 2021
Image source, BBC SportToss - Southern Brave to bowlpublished at 18:24 British Summer Time 27 July 2021
Southern Brave skipper James Vince has won the toss at Sophia Gardens and has inserted Welsh Fire.
Vince said: "There are short boundaries and it is hard to predict what is a good score here."
Fire skipper Jonny Bairstow, who will open, said he would have done the same if he had won the coin flick.
Postpublished at 18:22 British Summer Time 27 July 2021
Image source, BBC SportArcher missing for Bravepublished at 18:19 British Summer Time 27 July 2021
No Jofra Archer for Southern Brave this evening, though. The fast bowler still on the comeback trail following surgery on an elbow injury in May.
Archer bowled a few overs for Sussex in a friendly against Oxfordshire last week but with England's Test series against India just around the corner he's not risked for this one in Cardiff.
Here come the two teams for this evening.
Welcome...published at 18:10 British Summer Time 27 July 2021
This time last night we were salivating over the prospect of Joe Root versus Ben Stokes when the Trent Rockets played Northern Superchargers, but in the end it was an exiled England man in Alex Hales who stole the headlines.
Plenty of stars on show at Sophia Gardens. Welsh Fire have Jonny Bairstow, Tom Banton and Ollie Pope while Southern Brave boast James Vince, Quinton de Kock and Chris Jordan.
Big names, big reputations, but will someone else grab their chance on the big stage? Welcome to the latest installment of The Hundred.
Image source, Getty Images