Death bowling proves decisive as Vince, de Kock, Whiteley threaten in chase
Welsh Fire 165 for 4 (Bairstow 72, Duckett 53) beat Southern Brave 147 for 7 (Vince 40, Neesham 3-5) by 18 runs
As the women’s match earlier in the day reiterated, Sophia Gardens is not a particularly hospitable ground for slow bowlers – particularly fingerspinners. When England play in Cardiff, Adil Rashid is usually the only specialist picked; the two T20I internationals this summer saw them rely on a battery of pace bowling supported by Rashid’s legspin, which tends to be held back (and has the added advantage of the batter not being certain which way the ball will turn).
But when Brave walked out to bowl after winning the toss, Vince threw the ball to Danny Briggs. A left-armer, Briggs might have had the advantage of turning the ball away from Fire’s openers, Bairstow and Banton; but both are right-handers of aggressive demeanour and more than capable of targeting the short, straight boundaries if Briggs erred. Vince’s decision prompted the England analyst, Nathan Leamon, to tweet: “That is Southern BRAVE!!!”
Banton duly took a look at Briggs’ first ball, decided there wasn’t much to fear, and popped the next two back down the ground for sixes, before following up with a boundary swept behind square. Sixteen runs from three scoring shots and Fire were cooking.
Bairstow bides time
With Banton sounding the bugle, Bairstow was left searching for the spark that had ignited Fire’s opening win at Headingley. In that game, Bairstow creamed 39 out of an opening stand of 43 with Banton; here it was the younger man who took charge, scoring 30 out of Fire’s 38 for 0 in the Powerplay.
Even after Banton was dismissed, bowled by Lintott’s first delivery in the competition, Bairstow remained subdued. His only boundary in the first half of the innings was an inside edge off Tymal Mills, but he resolved to turn over the strike and allow his partner to attack – Duckett picked up the Banton baton by twice reverse-sweeping fours off Lintott and then using the pace of Overton to ramp a six over the keeper. From the end of the Powerplay until the 67th ball, Fire managed only four boundaries as the second-wicket pair took the game deep.
But nobody puts Jonny in the corner for long in white-ball cricket these days. Having been 20 from 21, a pulled four off Overton helped him find his range, before another moment of fortune saw a miscue off Mills fly for six over the keeper’s head. Then he was away, hitting two sixes and two fours in a set from Colin de Grandhomme that cost 22 as Bairstow raised his half-century from 31 balls.
Duckett had also sensed the moment, carting four consecutives boundaries off Lintott via a selection of sweeps, while Briggs was twice fetched into the stands by Bairstow, making his last appearance before going on Test duty with England. The damage for Brave would have been worse had he not picked out long-on with six balls remaining.
Brave attempt
Cardiff’s dimensions come into play for teams defending, particularly as the ball gets old, with pace off the ball and cutters bowled into the pitch forcing batters to take on the long, square boundaries. If they were going to be successful, Brave would likely have to go hard early on and try to get ahead of the rate against new ball and with fielding restrictions in place.
After 50 balls, Vince and Conway had taken the score on to 85 for 1 and Brave were more than halfway to their target. But Fire removed Conway, Vince and Colin de Grandhomme in quick succession, as Brave only added 11 from 15 and the required runs per ball hit 2 for the first time.
Alan Gardner is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo. @alanroderick