Match report: Phoenix Women v Southern Brave

Southern Brave 140-3 beat Birmingham Phoenix 116-5 by 24 runs

2026-07-30T18:45+01:00

Birmingham Phoenix Women lost by 24 runs against table-topping Southern Brave at the Utilita Bowl in Southampton, as they continue to search for a first win of their The Hundred competition.

The Phoenix were chasing 141 after fielding tigerishly to restrict the Brave on Southampton's vast playing area, and got to 50 from 37 balls, with Tammy Beaumont and Davina Perrin going well. When the strategic timeout was taken, 54 were needed from 30 for the loss of just Beaumont for 22 (23). But thereafter the chase ran aground. First Alice Capsey, who had been so impressive with the ball, skewed a Lauren Bell slower ball to extra cover off her ninth delivery. Then Perrin, who had ridden her luck to get to a 40-ball half-century, surviving three boundary catches along the way, miscued once too often to loft a Sarah Glenn leg-break to Maia Bouchier at long-on. Perrin’s dismissal killed the innings dead. Molineux picked up two wickets to make it seven for the tournament, working in cahoots with fellow left-arm spinner Tilly Courteen-Coleman to exert the squeeze, and not even a brace of long-handled boundaries from her opposite number Ellyse Perry could get the Phoenix close, as they finished 24 runs shy. Earlier in the piece, Lizelle Lee was explosive in the powerplay, pushing on to a 23-ball 43, including the only two sixes of the match, while Bouchier, who made a 31-ball 45, played punchily in her slipstream, and Jemimah Rodrigues added great momentum at the death, striking three fours from the final five to tilt the scales to the Brave.