Clark's final-ball heroics halt Brave's perfect start

The Southern Brave's unbeaten run in the Men's Hundred 2025 came to an end in Southampton as Graham Clark's steely 38 not out helped Northern Superchargers hold their nerve in a tense last-ball finish.

Brave were sent in to bat after Harry Brook won the toss for the visitors and they quickly found themselves under pressure against Jacob Duffy's sharp new-ball burst. Leus du Plooy fell for a duck in the opening over, James Vince followed cheaply and Jason Roy also departed inside the powerplay as the hosts slipped into trouble.

James Coles and Laurie Evans steadied the innings with a busy 87-run stand, with Evans counterattacking to a 34-ball 53 while Coles worked his way in before finding the gaps. Mitchell Santner's control in the middle overs pulled the Superchargers back, his final set going for just two runs and producing two wickets including Evans against the run of play. A couple of late boundaries from Coles and Michael Bracewell lifted the Brave to a competitive total of 139/5 on a two-paced pitch.

The chase began briskly with Zak Crawley finding early boundaries but Craig Overton struck with the fourth ball of the innings to remove Dawid Malan. He later dismissed Michael-Kyle Pepper and Dan Lawrence to keep the Brave interested.

Tymal Mills removed Crawley (37th ball) and Brook (55th ball) while Jofra Archer's pace unsettled the middle order, his fiery penultimate set removing Santner and Tom Lawes in quick succession and conceding just two singles to leave the visitors needing 10 off the last five balls.

Graham Clark managed to thread a crucial boundary off Mills off the 97th ball and it came down to 5 from 3, when Mills bowled two dot balls. But Clark managed to hold his nerve and seal a dramatic victory with a maximum off the last ball.

Brief Scores: Southern Brave 139/5 (Evans 53; Duffy 3-26) lost to Northern Superchargers in 100 balls (Clark 38*; Overton 3-29) by 3 wickets