The Hundred women’s competition, Headingley
Sunrisers Leeds 116 all out (100 balls): Smith 48 (34); Wong 3-15
Southern Brave 117-5 (96 balls): Rodrigues 42* (34); McCarthy 2-14
Southern Brave won by five wickets
Jemimah Rodrigues struck an unbeaten 42 to guide Southern Brave to a five-wicket victory against Sunrisers Leeds and maintain their perfect start to The Hundred.
The Indian batter, who played a starring role in her country’s maiden ODI World Cup triumph last year, helped Brave recover from a difficult start to their chase of 117 and hit the winning runs with four balls to spare.
It was the Brave’s second win from as many matches in the women’s competition.
Sunrisers pacer Cassidy McCarthy had removed both Lizelle Lee and Maia Bouchier with superb inswingers, while South Africa skipper Laura Wolvaardt also fell cheaply as Brave fell to 36-3 after 40 balls at Headingley.
But Rodrigues partnered with captain Sophie Molineux (21) to steady their innings before finding crucial boundaries in the closing stages to wrap up the win.
Earlier, Bryony Smith scored 48 from 34 balls for Sunrisers, but Issy Wong claimed 3-15 and Tilly Corteen-Coleman registered 2-25 to keep their scoring in check.
Sunrisers looked well set at 78-2 but lost eight wickets in adding the final 38 runs, suffering a dramatic collapse to be bowled out for 116 – a total that proved difficult to defend.