By Hannah Blackwell
Hayley Matthews continued her remarkable all-round form as Welsh Fire cruised to a commanding nine-wicket victory over bottom side Southern Brave at the Utilita Bowl.
The margin of victory ultimately guaranteed the Fire top spot and progression to the Hundred’s final on Sunday at Lord’s.
The Barbadian, opening the bowling, delivered figures of 4 for 14 with her offbreaks, before her unbeaten 35, in the slipstream of Tammy Beaumont’s 59 not out off 40 balls, helped the visitors knock off their target with 26 balls to spare.
Fire’s win put them in a strong position, due to their superior net run rate, to finish in top spot and qualify automatically for their first Hundred final.
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Their progress was confirmed when Oval Invincibles failed to chase their 92-run target inside 58 balls against Trent Rockets later on Wednesday afternoon, which would have been enough to leapfrog the Fire on net run-rate.
“I think we’ve been really good,” Matthews said.
“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.”
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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 for 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 for 7.
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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 flying start, with 34 runs posted before the loss of Sophia Dunkley to the final ball of the powerplay.
Beaumont was especially strong on 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.
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