The Hundred: James Vince hits 71 from 41 balls as defending champions Southern Brave crush Welsh Fire | Cricket News

Southern Brave (109 from 70 balls) beat Welsh Fire (107 from 100 balls) in the opening game of The Hundred 2022; James Vince (71 off 41 balls) excels with the bat after being dropped on four as defending champions start campaign with nine-wicket victory at The Ageas Bowl

James Vince hit an unbeaten fifty as Southern Brave beat Welsh Fire in the opening match of The Hundred

James Vince led the way with 71 from 41 balls as defending Hundred champions Southern Brave eased to a nine-wicket victory over Welsh Fire in the 2022 opener…

Story of the match

The opening contest of the campaign was largely a no-contest as Brave limited Fire to 107-7 from their 100 balls in Southampton and then coasted past that total in just 70 balls in a dominant display.

Fire were limp with the bat – Ben Duckett (40 off 31 balls) the only batter to pass 11 – as they were squeezed by a Brave bowling attack containing 17-year-old-leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed, who conceded only 14 runs from the 15 balls he bowled on his Hundred debut.

They were not helped by the farcical run out of captain Josh Cobb after a mix-up with Duckett – and another sloppy moment came near the start of Brave’s chase with Ryan Higgins dropping Vince on four at square leg.

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There was carnage in the middle with Ben Duckett and Josh Cobb getting in a muddle and the latter being run out

Vince duly punished Fire, hitting eight fours and a six as his side – victorious over Birmingham Phoenix in last year’s Hundred final – lost only one wicket, that of Alex Davies (26 off 21 balls).

Fire finished second bottom of the table last season and on this evidence, 2022 could also be a struggle, with the Cardiff-based team to be without England’s Jonny Bairstow for the whole of the campaign as he manages his workload.

What’s next?

Invincibles vs Spirit

August 4, 2022, 6:00pm

Live on

Thursday’s game is a London derby between Oval Invincibles and London Spirit at The Kia Oval. Build up on Sky Sports The Hundred, Sky Sports Mix and Sky Sports Main Event begins at 6pm ahead of the first ball at 6.30pm. You can also watch the match via our a free live stream on skysports.com, the Sky Sports App and the Sky Sports Cricket YouTube channel.

Sam Billings’ Invincibles finished fourth last season with four wins and four defeats from eight games, while Eoin Morgan’s Spirit ended up bottom of the table after six defeats, a no result and just the solitary victory.

Invincibles batter Jason Roy will be hoping a change of kit brings about a change of fortunes, with the 32-year-old struggling for runs in England’s T20 strip of late during games against India and South Africa.

Welsh Fire vs Invincibles

August 7, 2022, 1:30pm

Live on

Phoenix vs Brave

August 10, 2022, 6:00pm

Live on

As for Fire and Brave, they are back in action at the weekend and next Wednesday respectively. Fire welcome Invincibles to Cardiff on Saturday (2pm start), while Brave travel to Edgbaston to play Phoenix three days later (6.30pm start) in a repeat of last year’s Hundred final.

Watch every match from The Hundred this summer live on Sky Sports. The women’s competition starts on Thursday, August 11 with defending champions Oval Invincibles taking on Northern Superchargers at The Kia Oval (6.30pm start).