Southern Brave have been involved in a few low-scoring games this season – chasing 106 against Rockets with two balls to spare; chasing 111 versus Fire with just one ball remaining; and perhaps more significantly in the context of this match, defending 106 against Fire in their final group match. They won them all – the first time any team has gone through the group stages undefeated.

Now, in the final at Lord’s, they needed to do it all over again, after posting a slightly disappointing 115-6 against Superchargers. Lord’s isn’t The Oval, of course – anyone hoping for a repeat of yesterday’s run-fest in the Eliminator doesn’t know their North London from their South; but nonetheless Brave would have been hoping for more.

Ultimately, they probably needed a lot more – Superchargers chased it with 12 balls to spare, and with very little urgency required. There were a couple of moments in Superchargers’ chase that the Brave might rue. First they failed to go upstairs for a DRS review on Nic Carey, which would have been out. It would have been a golden duck – it was Carey’s first ball – but she went on to top score with 35 and be named the Meerkat Match Hero. Then later a delivery from Lauren Bell nicked the bails, which lit up but didn’t fall. Annabel Sutherland survived, and went on to hit the winning runs with a 6 over mid on.

The Sutherland wicket might not have mattered – Superchargers needed a straightforward 16 from 20 balls by that point, with two proper batters (Hollie Armitage and Bess Heath) plus the highly experienced and pretty unflappable Kate Cross still to come. But the Carey one definitely did; and would have made up somewhat for a disappointing season from the bowler in question – Chloe Tryon, who will go home with £20,000 in her pocket having taken 4 wickets and scored 31 runs in 9 games for Brave this summer.

None of Brave’s overseas stars really fired today. Laura Wolvaardt at least can legitimately claim that she got an unplayable delivery from Kate Cross, who will have perhaps enjoyed a moment of ‘Look What You Could Have Won?’ on the day Isa Guha let-slip live on the BBC that she has lost her central contract. (We understand that she was told this well before the World Cup squad was announced, which… shall we say… certainly adds an additional dimension to those discussions.)

But Sophie Devine chewing up 28 balls – over a quarter of the innings – for just 23 runs made it very difficult for everyone around her; and Tryon “chipping in” by stuttering to 5 off 10 balls at the death was pretty inexcusable – you have to hit out or get out in this shortest of short formats, especially at that stage!

Prior to the game, all the talk in the press box was of Davina Perrin, after her incredible performance in the Eliminator. Men’s cricket journalists who would have struggled to spell her name 24 hours before were sidling up to media managers trying to wrangle an exclusive interview with the girl who now looks set to be cricket’s next global superstar.

And why not? That unbelievable innings will turn her into a millionaire within a year or two, and deservedly so. But expecting her to do it twice in one weekend was probably a bit much; and personally I was simply keeping my fingers crossed that she didn’t let the pressure get to her and dry-up like a mountain stream in a heatwave. And she didn’t – 17 off 16 balls wasn’t a match-winning knock but it was no disgrace either. It got them all-but through the powerplay and gave them the foundation they needed to go on and win the game by playing (mainly!) sensible disciplined cricket.

Phoebe Litchfield was named Player of the Tournament, after a cameo today where she dragged out all the classics like an old music hall performer – the sweep, the reverse sweep, the switch sweep – we saw ’em all! No doubt she has been great entertainment, and she did finish as the leading run-scorer; but if I was Lauren Bell I’d feel slightly aggrieved I think. No one has taken 19 wickets in a Hundred season before, whilst both the last two top run-scorers (Nat Sciver-Brunt in 2024 (303) and Danni Wyatt-Hodge in 2023 (295)) scored more than Litchfield’s 292 runs. If Bell’s team had won the final, might that have made the difference? Should it have? I’m not sure.

So ends the era of The Hundred… at least in its current form. The format itself may drag on for another season or two; but it is certainly doomed after that, and I’d just bite the bullet and change it now, mainly because so much else will change in 2026.

As I look out from the Lord’s press box with the men’s final being played, I see thousands of kids in Invincibles’ bucket hats and sea-green shirts. They’ll be chip-paper next year, with the team from south of the river likely renamed MI London and playing in blue; as will all those Superchargers shirts being worn by the boys and girls who cheered their women’s team’s win earlier. The full house for both games proves that the public has taken this competition to their hearts. The challenge now will be to keep it there for The Hundred 2.0.