Brave crush spirit en route seventh straight win

Southern Brave continued their dominance in the Women's Hundred 2025 with their seventh win on the trot as they crushed London Spirit by eight wickets, and pushed them out of the top three. Brave's bowling comeback kept the Spirit to just 125/8 despite a strong 67-run stand between Cordelia Griffith and Charli Knott. In reply, a 95-run stand between Laura Wolvaardt and Maia Bouchier set them on course for a win they wrapped up with six balls to spare.

Put in to bat first at Lord's, hosts Spirit lost Kira Chathli cheaply before Mady Villiers struck twice to get rid of Georgia Redmayne and the dangerous Grace Harris in the same set. Reeling at 36/3 in 34 deliveries, Griffith joined hands with Knott to resurrect the innings with their half-century stand.

Griffith struck two sixes and four boundaries in her 44 off 34 deliveries, and took her side past the 100-run mark with Knott making 36 off 26 with half a dozen fours. The partnership was broken at a crucial juncture by Georgia Adams, denying Griffith a fifty by six runs. Knott fell soon after to a run-out, and the Spirit innings crumbled. The lower order could only muster 12 more in the last 15 deliveries, finishing with an under-par score as Villiers picked up her third in the late collapse to end with 3 for 38 from her 20.

Issy Wong struck early to dent Brave's chase with the wicket of Danni Wyatt-Hodge, but that brought Wolvaardt to the crease. The South African skipper combined with Bouchier to dig their team out of early trouble, and it helped that the target wasn't too stiff.

Wolvaardt, who remained unbeaten on 56, slammed two sixes and four boundaries in her 40-ball knock while Bouchier wasn't fortunate enough to reach the fifty milestone. Wong struck for the second time just as the partnership neared the 100-run mark, but the damage had already been done. In-form Sophie Devine arrived and hit the winning runs in the penultimate set, keeping Brave unbeaten after their penultimate league game.

Brief scores: London Spirit 125/8 in 100 balls (Cordelia Griffith 44, Charli Knott 36; Mady Villiers 3-38) lost to Southern Brave 126/2 in 94 balls (Laura Wolvaardt 56*, Maia Bouchier 43; Issy Wong 2-34) by 8 wickets