Southern Brave 152 for 6 (Vince 60, Milne 3-15) beat Birmingham Phoenix 151 for 3 (Livingstone 68*, Hammond 44*) by four wickets
James Vince stroked 60 from 38 and Chris Jordan produced a late cameo with the bat as Southern Brave finally got their campaign up and running with victory under the lights at the Ageas Bowl. Liam Livingstone produced his first significant contribution of the Hundred with an unbeaten half-century and Adam Milne's 3 for 15 had seemingly set up Birmingham Phoenix for a narrow victory - only for Tom Helm to blink first against Jordan in the final set of five.
For the third game running, Brave conceded a century stand (no other men's team has done so even once), as Livingstone and Miles Hammond lifted Phoenix from a precarious 47 for 3 after 37. Jake Lintott picked up 2 for 13 while Liam Dawson was also frugal - but neither bowled their full allocation as Brave's big guns, Tymal Mills and Jordan, again proved expensive, Livingstone hauling Phoenix up above 150 with a boundary from the final ball of the innings.
Vince led the Brave charge but Milne removed Quinton de Kock cheaply and Devon Conway suffered the rare indignity during his time in England of being made to look human, producing a scratchy 34 from 27. Conway took 21 balls to score a boundary and then had his stumps rearranged by the returning Milne, leaving 32 needed from 19.
Jordan struck a vital boundary off Helm and Milne produced a late blip by delivering a wide and a no-ball in his final set, bringing the equation down to single figures. With Phoenix failing to bowl the 95th ball before the cut-off, they were made to bring an extra fielder up inside the ring - and their poor timekeeping was to prove costly, as Jordan thrashed Helm into the newly-created gap at deep square leg, before a wide and a dropped catch by Benny Howell at deep midwicket was followed by another wide as Jordan scrambled Brave over the line.
Lintott provides cutting edge
Despite a much-vaunted pace attack for this competition, Brave have struggled to make an impact with the ball. Missing Jofra Archer as he continues his comeback from injury, Mills and Jordan had taken one wicket between them in Brave's first two games; and their only wicket in the Powerplay was George Garton's dismissal of Alex Hales at the start of Trent Rockets' low-pressure chase of 127.
Brave started much better in their first outing at home, with Garton proving difficult for the two right-handed Phoenix openers to get away during an opening "tenner". Colin de Grandhomme sneaked through a cheap set and Mills then finally got himself on the board for the campaign when Daniel Bell-Drummond slapped to point for 9 off 10. Phoenix were 27 for 1 after 25 and although Livingstone targeted de Grandhomme, hitting him for two sixes either side of being caught off a no-ball, the introduction of Jake Lintott seemed to put Brave on top.
The left-arm wristspinner, a Blast wildcard pick after his success for Birmingham Bears, claimed a wicket with his first 100-ball delivery in Cardiff earlier in the week, but was then collared by Ben Duckett. On a bigger ground, he had greater protection to toss it up, and this time he struck twice in four balls - Finn Allen stumped coming down the pitch, Moeen Ali bowled while slog-sweeping - for impressive figures of 2 for 3 from his opening ten.
Livingstone, we presume
That Livingstone would prove to be the headline act for Phoenix sooner or later was no surprise, coming just a couple of weeks after he had blitzed an England record 42-ball T20I hundred. But despite a few trademark towering blows into the stands, this was an innings that was more perspiration than inspiration.
Livingstone was reprieved on 12, when replays showed de Grandhomme had overstepped after a big top edge had settled in the hands of mid-off, and although the next ball was dumped over the ropes, he only managed to find the boundary once from his next 23 balls. He moved into the 40s with a thick top edge over the keeper, crashed Mills into the crowd next ball and then brought up his half-century with another slice over short third man.
Taking the pressure off during the middle of the innings was Hammond, moved down after the first two matches to fill an unfamiliar middle-order berth. From 6 off 9 he looked increasingly fluent and briefly overtook Livingstone to be 41 off 25 - but only ended up facing four of the last 15 deliveries. He said afterwards his strategy was to "get down the other end" and let his partner go to work, but Livingstone's struggle for timing continued, even if his 68 off 44 looked like decisive.
Vince's lone hand
The women's match earlier in the day had produced a cakewalk of a chase for the home side, Danni Wyatt's fireworks seeing them to a target of 141 with 18 balls to spare; consequently, both Vince and Moeen Ali had been keen to bowl first at the toss. Vince got his way and made the early running in Brave's chase. In fact, he did the early everything - during the time he was out in the middle, he scored 60 out of 82 and all nine of his side's boundaries.
He began in circumspect fashion against Milne's extra pace in the Powerplay, but climbed into Helm, taking his first five for three fours and a six. Howell's second ball was lofted for a regal six over deep extra cover, while four more boundaries came from the spin of Moeen and Livingstone. But with Conway dealing almost exclusively in singles, the pressure on Brave's captain increased - and when he top-edged a sweep off Moeen to short fine leg, they were left needing 70 off 42.
It looked beyond them until Jordan joined his captain in making a stand, as Brave's men matched the women by pulling off the highest chase in their side of the tournament so far.
