Aussie skipper Molineux leads Brave to first up Hundred win

Australia's T20 World Cup-winning captain Sophie Molineux has led the Southern Brave to a remarkable eight-run victory over Welsh Fire in the English Hundred competition.

The day after her Aussie teammate Phoebe Litchfield's heroics in steering Sunrisers Leeds to victory over MI London at The Oval, new Brave skipper Molineux stepped up to show her class in a thrilling encounter at the Rose Bowl.

Fire were in the box seat to hunt down the Brave's score of 126 in Southampton after reaching 1-80 for 58 balls, with another Aussie, Georgia Wareham, scoring nine.

But Jemimah Rodrigues' direct hit to run out Freya Kemp for 39 gave Brave, tournament winners in 2023 and semi-finalists last year, an opening they seized upon.

Georgia Voll holed out for 52 and wickets fell rapidly as Victorian allrounder Molineux (3-14 from 20 balls), Lauren Bell and Tilly Corteen-Coleman (two wickets each) ensured Fire were forced to end on 8-118.

Brave had earlier built their total around South Africa star Laura Wolvaardt's unbeaten 45 from 36 balls with Lizelle Lee contributing 31.

Left-hander Molineux was then stumped after a free-flowing 22 as her Australian teammate Heather Graham's four-wicket haul for Fire proved in vain.

"It was a great win in front of our home crowd," player-of-the-match Molineux said. 

"We clawed our way back and it was really pleasing. It's often hard to juggle our bowling attack but we bowled well in the middle and Lauren (Bell) bowled really well at the end. We've got real depth in our bowlers."

In the later match at Southampton, Matt Short's Fire got their men's Hundred campaign off and running with a six wicket win over the home side.

England opener and Welsh captain Phil Salt top-scored in the game with 47 off 37 balls to enable his side to edge home with two balls to spare chasing the Brave's 7-135.

England bowlers Jofra Archer (0-22) and Adil Rashid (0-18) went for just 40 off their combined 40 balls, while Australian allrounder Nikhil Chaudhary picked up 2-19 off 15 balls, but Brave's total proved insufficient.

That was in no small part due to Marco Jansen, who claimed 2-17 off 20, with Aussie off-spinner Short taking a miserly 1-5 off 10. Only David Miller (44) and Thomas Rew (41) made any impact for the Brave, with Chaudhary chipping in with three fours in a 12-ball 19.

Short earlier hit 20 off 15 balls, including four boundaries, before England batter Joe Root's debut for Welsh Fire ended when he was run out for 15.

– Main image courtesy of ECB

The Hundred 2026 men's standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	Drawn D	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Bowling Bonus Bowl	Total points PTS
1 MI London Men MLM	1	1	0	0	0	0	1.421	0	0	0	4
2 Welsh Fire Men WFM	1	1	0	0	0	0	0.291	0	0	0	4
3 Birmingham Phoenix Men BPM	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4 London Spirit Men LSM	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5 Manchester Super Giants Men MSM	0	0	0	0		0	0	0			0
6 Manchester Super Giants Men MSG	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7 Trent Rockets Men TRM	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
8 Southern Brave Men SBM	1	0	1	0	0	0	-0.291	0	0	0	0
9 Sunrisers Leeds Men SLM	1	0	1	0	0	0	-1.421	0	0	0	0

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

D: Drawn

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

Bowl: Bowling Bonus

PTS: Total points

Australians in the Hundred

(* denotes bought in auction)

Birmingham Phoenix

Men: Mitch Owen £130,000 (A$244,000)

 

Women: Ellyse Perry £100,000 (A$187,436), Alana King* £37,500 (A$70,000), Lucy Hamilton withdrawn

London Spirit

Men: Adam Zampa £190,000 (A$357,000), Andrew Tye

 

Women: Grace Harris £70,000 (A$131,000)

Manchester Super Giants

Women: Meg Lanning £95,000 (A$178,000), Maitlan Brown* £40,000 (A$75,000)

MI London

Women: Nicola Carey* £95,000 (A$178,000)

Southern Brave

Men: Marcus Stoinis £150,000 (A$282,000), Nikhil Chaudhary* £31,000 (A$58,000)

 

Women: Sophie Molineux* £47,500 (A$89,000), Lizelle Lee £27,500 (A$53,000)

Sunrisers Leeds

Men: Mitch Marsh £200,000 (A$376,000), Nathan Ellis £145,000 (A$278,000)

 

Women: Annabel Sutherland £130,000 (A$244,000), Phoebe Litchfield £120,000 (A$225,000), Jess Jonassen* £110,000 (A$206,000)

Trent Rockets

Men: Tim David £350,000 (A$658,000)

 

Women: Beth Mooney* £210,000 ($A394,000), Ashleigh Gardner £100,000 (A$187,000), Kim Garth £42,000 (A$79,000), Sam Bates £15,000 (A$29,000)

Welsh Fire

Men: Matt Short* £75,000 (A$140,978)

 

Women: Georgia Wareham £100,000 (A$187,000), Georgia Voll £80,000 (A$150,000), Heather Graham* £27,500 (A$52,000)