Southern Brave crushed Oval Invincibles by 89 runs – the biggest margin in the history of The Hundred – via the ultimate team performance: no 50s or 100s; no 4fers or 5fers; just contributions up and down the XI, as the Brave made it 5-from-5 to leave themselves one win away from qualification for the knockout stages. Regardless of what else happens, a win in their next match versus Welsh Fire will guarantee Brave at least 3rd place in the table.

Maia Bouchier and Danni Wyatt-Hodge got Brave’s innings off to a solid enough start, reaching 33-0 after 25 balls, with Bouchier having had the bulk of the strike through that period, facing 17 of those 25 balls and making 21 runs. But it was definitely a platform rather than a big start, little hinting at what was to come.

Brave began to accelerate immediately following the powerplay, with Bouchier hitting a 6 and a 4 off Amanda-Jade Wellington’s first set which went for 13. But her dismissal – holing-out on the midwicket boundary – saw a dip in the trend of their innings which could easily have become a fatal slump, especially after Wyatt-Hodge, who has been Brave’s leading run-scorer this season, decided to charge Phoebe Franklin, presumably guessing that Franklin wouldn’t bowl two slower balls in a row. (She did; Wyatt-Hodge was way too early on her charge down the pitch, and was comprehensively bowled!)

Although neither Laura Wolvaardt (36 – Brave’s top score) nor Sophie Devine (19) really got into 5th gear, they kept pressing as they put on a partnership of 42; before they were dismissed in quick succession – Wolvaardt caught on the ring; and Devine run out after a bit of the “Yes; No; Yes; Nos” with Freya Kemp. Kemp, however, more than made up for it with a rapid 24 off 11 balls as Brave timed their innings perfectly – losing 4 wickets in the final phase, but getting 46 more runs on the board, moving from 115-2 to 161-6 in the final 25 balls.

Interestingly, if this had been a “normal” T20 game, Brave might well have struggled to score many runs off the extra 20 balls – certainly not at the rate they had been going. But for a 100-ball match, it was perfectly timed; and left Invincibles needing a record chase for the win.

To be fair, it was a record chase.. just not the record they’d have had in mind!

We’ve seen a few times already in The Hundred this season that you have to get ahead of the rate if you’re to have any chance in these big chases; but after Sophie Devine removed both Invincibles openers in the space of 4 balls, they could only cough and splutter their way to 17 off the powerplay.

If Invincibles chances were slim after 25 balls, by 50 they were non-existent, after Lauren Bell and Rhianna Southby (who continues to show the value of a specialist wicket-keeper in this competition) combined to have Alice Capsey and Paige Scholfield caught behind off consecutive deliveries; and Invincibles eventually succumbed to the inevitable as their longish tail collapsed to 72 all out.

The result puts Brave back on top of the table, with an enormous Net Run Rate advantage over their rivals; but on the evidence of tonight they won’t need it to qualify directly for the final – they might not have had a stand-out star today, but as a team they look unstoppable.