Phil Salt leads Welsh Fire to winning start

A measured unbeaten 47 off 37 from Phil Salt helped Welsh Fire begin their Men's Hundred campaign with a six-wicket win over Southern Brave at The Rose Bowl in Southampton. Thomas Rew and David Miller scored 40s but disciplined bowling from Fire restricted Brave to 135 for 7. Salt then forged useful partnerships with Joe Root and Rachin Ravindra but there was some stutter towards the end before Fire got over the line with two deliveries to spare.

Matthew Short provided the initial tempo to the chase with four boundaries - three fours off Luke Wood and one off Jofra Archer. However, Short got out to a slow and wide delivery from Daniel Worrall, departing for 20 off 15. On a pitch that wasn't easy for the batters, Root and Salt added 31 off 26 to keep Fire on track. Barring a couple of fours for Root, the boundaries didn't come frequently but the second wicket pair ensured steady strike rotation to keep the scorecard moving. The partnership, however, came to an abrupt end as a mix-up resulted in Root's run-out for a run-a-ball 15.

Fire were 60 for 2 in 47 balls at that stage and moved to 109 for 3 in 73 balls thanks to the 49-run association between Salt and Ravindra that came off only 27 balls. Ravindra got the much-needed boundaries while Salt, after a boundary-drought of 25 balls, hit a Wood delivery over long on for a four, followed by another boundary to take Fire past 100 in 70 balls. Nikhil Chaudhary caused some tense moments in the opposition camp with the wickets of Ravindra and Jordan Jox, which was followed by quiet sets from Adil Rashid and Archer, leaving Fire needing 9 off 5. Asa Tribe then hit Chris Jordan for a four while Salt finished it off with a six over mid-wicket.

Earlier, Fire produced a good bowling display after opting to field on a tacky surface, with their seamers executing their plans well. Sam Cook struck early with a leg-cutter to bowl Jamie Smith for 3. Ben McKinney struggled to get going and eventually fell to Marco Jansen for a nine-ball 4. Meanwhile 18-year-old Rew looked a lot more fluent, impressing on his Hundred debut with a 41 off 30 balls. This included 5 fours and a six.

Miller, on the other hand, found scoring difficult initially, taking 18 deliveries to reach 10. The pressure on Brave intensified as Rew fell to Jansen and Matt Short dismissed Tristan Stubbs cheaply, thanks to an excellent boundary catch from Ben Kellaway. Miller finally broke free with 34 from his next 17 balls - including a six off Lockie Ferguson - while Chaudhary also got three fours towards the end. The last set of five wasn't quite productive and Miller's stay came to an end off the penultimate ball when Ravindra produced a direct-hit.

Brief scores: Southern Brave 135/7 in 100 balls (David Miller 44, Thomas Rew 41; Marco Jansen 2-17) lost to Welsh Fire 138/4 in 98 balls (Phil Salt 47*, Rachin Ravindra 24; Nikhil Chaudhary 2-19) by 6 wickets.