Welsh Fire vs Southern Brave, Cardiff
Welsh Fire 110/7 in 100 balls (Matthews 33; Bell 2-19, Wellington 2-19) lost to Southern Brave 112/2 in 84 balls (Mandhana 61; Harvey 1-23) by 8 wickets with 16 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Smriti Mandhana.
Smriti Mandhana’s unbeaten 61 helped Southern Brave ease past a mediocre target of 111 runs in 84 balls. They climbed to second place with this win.
Danni Wyatt started the chase, hitting three fours in quick succession, but ended up holing one to Charlotte Taylor. This brought Sophie Dunkley to the crease. Dunkley contributed with a run-a-ball 16.
At the other end, Mandhana reached her half-century. She finished the game with a six over Bryony Smith. Stafanie Taylor too remained unbeaten on 17.
Earlier, Welsh Fire got off a sluggish start, scoring only 3 in the first 10 balls and losing Smith. Amanda Wellington then got Alice Macleod for 5 to reduce the Welsh to 26/2.
Apart from Hayley Matthews, who made 33 off 20, none of the Welsh batters could make an impact. A measured knock from Georgia Hennessy (23) took them to 110/7 in the end.