WF vs SB | Archer and Cartwright shine as Southern Brave push Welsh Fire to brink of elimination

‌Welsh Fire stumbled to their fourth loss in five matches in The Hundred Men’s 2025 campaign when they fell short by four runs against Southern Brave in Cardiff. Hilton Cartwright and Jofra Archer were the architects of Brave’s narrow win that helped them come out of a three-match losing streak. With that win, the visitors jumped to the third spot with 12 points from three wins in six games, while the Welsh side stayed at the bottom of the points table with a solitary win in five matches.

After being put into bat first at Sophia Gardens, Brave started slowly against the new-ball duo of David Payne and Matt Henry. The Kiwi pacer gave nothing away as he bowled an accurate spell with the new Kookaburra. He conceded just one run in his first 10 balls and also accounted for opener Leus du Plooy. The introduction of Ajeet Singh Dale helped the Brave skipper James Vince to free his arms. Though Vince scored two boundaries in a 10-run over from Ajeet Singh, the visitors still managed to reach only 18/1 in the first 25 balls, the joint-lowest powerplay score in The Hundred this season. Henry continued to torment the Brave batters as he gave away just one run in his third set, which also saw him pick his second wicket in Jason Roy. He ended his 20-ball spell with astonishing figures of 2/5, which included a total of 16 dot balls. With the return of James Coles (14), who looked promising for a brief period, and Vince (29), the Brave innings threatened to end below the 100-run mark as they sat precariously at 71/5. However, Australian batter Hilton Cartwright blitzed to a 19-ball fifty to help the visitors reach a respectable 129/8 in their allotted 100 balls. Cartwright smashed five sixes and two fours during his unbeaten knock as he completed his fifty off the last ball of the innings. Apart from Henry, Payne and off-spinner Chris Green also picked up 2/25 and 2/24, respectively, for the home side in four sets.

Fire’s chase began promisingly with Jonny Bairstow playing an entertaining cameo of 10-ball 22, with all his runs coming through boundaries. The wicketkeeper-batter started off with two fours and a six off Craig Overton before targeting Reece Topley in the next set with two more boundaries. Once he left, former Australian captain Steve Smith (13) shone with a similar cameo to put the home side way ahead of the asking rate. But Jofra Archer turned the game on its head with a double-wicket first over, including Smith, as the hosts ended the 25-ball period at 46/3. Though they lost captain Tom Abell too shortly, Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Saif Zaib’s 32-run partnership for the fifth wicket kept the Fire in the hunt. But Overton’s dismissal of Zaib created another mini-collapse that saw the home side slip to 101/7. And once the left-arm spinner James Coles sent back Fire’s top-scorer Kohler-Cadmore (25), with 14 runs still needed from eight balls, the writing was on the wall for the hosts. Pacer Chris Jordan held his nerve to defend the target of 12 in the final set as he conceded just seven runs to end the Fire’s innings at 125/8. Archer was the pick among the visitors’ bowlers with a spell of 3/20 in 20 balls, while Coles and Overton ended with two wickets.