Salt’s unbeaten 47 ends Welsh Fire’s Southern Brave hoodoo in The Hundred

Welsh Fire had not beaten Southern Brave in eight attempts before Wednesday night at the Rose Bowl. Phil Salt made sure the ninth ended differently, dragging his side home with an unbeaten 47 and a six off the final over to seal a six-wicket win in The Hundred.

Salt sees Fire home under pressure

Chasing 136 in Southampton, Welsh Fire looked in control for long stretches and then wobbled just enough to make the finish interesting. Salt held it together at one end, facing 37 balls for his 47 and picking his moments against a Brave attack led by Jofra Archer, who bowled quick and gave nothing away in the middle overs.

With the game tightening, Salt needed four from the last three balls. He backed himself and went big, clearing the ropes off Chris Jordan to finish the chase with two balls to spare. His stand of 49 with Rachin Ravindra, off just 27 balls, was the passage that pulled the target back within reach after the early overs had threatened to leave Fire behind the rate.

Miller and Rew give Brave something to bowl at

Southern Brave posted 135 for 7 batting first, a total built around the middle order rather than the top. David Miller made 44 and Thomas Rew added 41, the pair rebuilding after Welsh Fire’s bowlers had picked off the early wickets. Sam Cook removed Jamie Smith for 3, and Marco Jansen struck twice, accounting for Ben McKinney for 4 and later ending Rew’s innings.

It left Brave a little short of where the surface suggested they might get to, and the run out of Archer, undone by a mix-up in the field between Jansen, Woakes and Cook, summed up an innings that never quite broke free. A total in the mid-130s gave the bowlers a target to defend, but not the cushion they would have wanted against a batting line-up with Salt at the top.

A streak finally broken

For Welsh Fire, the result carried more weight than a single set of points. Eight straight defeats to the same opponent is the kind of record that starts to feel like a mental block, and shaking it off early in this campaign matters for a side trying to build momentum in a competition remade this year by new ownership and its first player auction.

Brave, for their part, will feel they left runs out on the pitch. Miller and Rew did the repair work, but nobody went on to the sort of score that turns 135 into 160, and against a chase anchored by an in-form Salt, that margin was the difference. The two sides meet plenty of others before the knockout picture clears, but for one night at least, the hoodoo is gone.

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