Lee, Bouchier shine as Southern Brave make it four in four

Southern Brave moved up to 16 points with a 24-run victory over the winless Birmingham Phoenix, consolidating their lead.

At the top, openers Lizelle Lee and Maia Bouchier made strong contributions, and Jemimah Rodrigues added the finishing touches to propel Brave to 140, which they successfully defended in spite of Davina Perrin's fifty to make it four from four.

Phoenix got off to a good start with 50 from 37 balls, chasing 141 after a poor fielding effort limited Brave to 140. Openers Tammy Beaumont and Perrin got going, and even though Perrin did the bulk of scoring, the pair put on a brisk 73-run partnership in 56 balls and everything seemed under control.

However, at the strategic timeout, when the equation was 54 needed off 30, the chase lost steam.Alice Capsey skewed a Lauren Bell slower ball to extra cover off her ninth delivery. Then Perrin, who had enjoyed as many as three reprieves on her way to a 40-ball half-century, miscued one as she lofted Sarah Glenn's leg-break to Bouchier at long-on. That wicket nearly killed the chase.

Brave skipper Sophie Molineux picked up two wickets in quick succession to exert the squeeze. Not even Ellyse Perry's late boundaries could get Phoenix back on track, as they went down by 24 runs still rooted to the bottom of the points table.

Brave took the lead earlier in the day thanks to Lee's explosive powerplay hand. The South African chipped in a 43 in just 28 balls, seven boundaries and two sixes included. On the other hand, Bouchier took a 45 off 31 balls and hit eight boundaries to put on 68 runs for the first stand. She then added 29 runs off just 18 balls with Laura Wolvaardt for the second wicket.

Rodrigues took her time to get going. She was at 8 off 9 balls at one point, but added 20 runs in the next nine deliveries she faced - striking three fours from the final five - to take the side to what eventually proved a winning total