Led by captain Jonny Bairstow's second consecutive half-century, Welsh Fire maintained his position as the astonishing pace-setter in the Men's Hundred, seeing the Southern Brave in a high-scoring encounter in Cardiff. Bairstow scored 72 off 39 during the century stand with Ben Duckett and though the Braves started off aggressively in their chase, the rumble of wickets left them short in the second half.
Fire's batting continued his impressive start in the tournament with the third-highest 100-ball total - just eight runs away from his own record, set during a blistering opening win at Headingley on Saturday. Tom Banton hit a six off two of his first three balls to set the tone on 34 off 23, Bairstow picked up the pace to become the leading run-scorer in the men's competition after a slow start, and the ducks were particularly serious. Bahadur's mysterious bowler, left-arm wrist spinner Jake Lintott is making the campaign's first appearance.
As well as bringing in Lintott and Craig Overton, the Braves were buoyed by Quinton de Kock's arrival from international duty with South Africa after a careless loss in his opening match to the Trent Rockets. But though de Kock made a frenzied start to the chase and James Vince kept him on track with a 40 off 27, the fire boosted his enthusiasm and closed the game through impressive spells from Jake Ball and Jimmy Neesham. , who ended up with an exemplary figure of 3. his 15 to 5.
opening gambit
As the women's match reiterated earlier in the day, Sophia Gardens is not a particularly hospitable ground for slow bowlers - especially finger spinners. When England play in Cardiff, Adil Rashid is usually the only specialist to be picked; In two T20 Internationals this summer, he relied on Rashid's battery of fast bowling backed by legspin, which goes backwards (and the added advantage of the batsman not being sure which side the ball will turn).
But when the Braves won the toss and went out to bowl, Vince threw the ball to Danny Briggs. A left-handed batsman, Briggs could have had the advantage of swinging the ball away from the fire openers Bairstow and Banton; But both are right-handers with aggressive demeanor and are able to target short, straight ranges if Briggs makes a mistake. Vince's decision prompted England analyst Nathan Lemon to tweet: "He is the Southern Brave!!!"
Banton duly took a look at Briggs' first ball, decided there was nothing to fear, and threw the next two back into the field for sixes, before a boundary was swept backwards. Sixteen runs from three scoring shots and the fire was cooking.
Bairstow spent time
With Banton sounding the trumpet, Bairstow looked for the spark that ignited the Fire's opening victory at Headingley. In that game, Bairstow scored 39 off 43 opening stands with Banton; Here it was the young man who took charge after scoring 30 off 38 of Fire in the powerplay.
Even after Banton was dismissed, Bairstow was suppressed, bowled by Lintott's first ball of the competition. His only limitation in the first half of the innings was an inside edge for four off Tymal Mills, but he resolved to turn on the strike and allow his partner to attack - Duckett reversed twice off Lintott's delivery - Banton from the sweeping fours lifts the baton and then uses Overton's momentum to hit the keeper for a six. Fire could only hit four boundaries from the end of the powerplay till the 67th ball as the second wicket pair deepened the game.
But no one keeps Johnny in the corner for long in white-ball cricket these days. Turning 20 out of 21, a four drawn off Overton's ball helped him find his boundary, before another moment of fate saw Mills smash a six over the keeper's head. Then he was away, hitting two sixes and two fours in a set from Colin de Grandhomme that cost 22 as Bairstow scored his half-century off 31 balls.
Duckett also sensed the moment, hitting four consecutive boundaries off Lintott through the selection of a sweep, while Briggs was brought into the stands twice by Bairstow, making his final appearance before going on Test duty with England. The loss for the Braves would have been worse had he not been dismissed at long-on with six balls to spare.
Brave effort
Cardiff's dimensions come into play for defending teams, especially as the ball gets older, with speed and cutters being thrown into the pitch, forcing the batsmen to take long, square boundaries. If they were going to succeed, the Braves would have to work hard early on and try to outrun the rate against the new ball and with fielding restrictions.
The fire started with an over from Glenn Phillips, probably keeping left-hander de Kock in mind; But Vince took the strike and cut two boundaries. Matt Critchley's legspin was hit straight over his head by de Kock, who also launched David Payne for a brace for a six in his opening set, before making 21 off 7 to deep backward square. But Vince and Devon Conway, who successfully reviewed after being caught out behind Kais Ahmed, kept a good tempo as the Braves ended their powerplay at 55 for 1 - well ahead of the fire mark earlier in the day.
After 50 balls, Vince and Conway were 85 for 1 and the Braves were over half their target. But Fire took three for 11 in the next three sets of five and hit the required 2 runs per ball for the first time. Neesham's first victim was Vince, as the New Zealander's variations in pace and length proved particularly effective, and when he was playing Ross Whiteley on 25 off 14 from 89th, the Brave's challenge was as good as the that over.