Stubbs finishes the job as Southern Brave chase down Trent Rockets in The Hundred
Southern Brave beat Trent Rockets with five balls to spare in the 2026 Hundred men's competition, with Donovan Stubbs swinging the winning blow — a six over square leg off Lewis Gregory — to seal a chase that had teetered on the edge of nerves.
Stubbs finished unbeaten on 52 from 28 balls, hitting four fours and three sixes at a strike rate of 185.71. He had shared a fourth-wicket stand of 70 with Marcus Stoinis, who blazed 46 off 25 — four fours, three sixes — before miscuing a full toss from Ben Sanderson in the penultimate set and being caught. With eight runs needed off the final five balls, Stubbs and Nikhil Chaudhary saw Brave home. BBC Sport
Trent Rockets had earlier posted a competitive total built on a late flourish. Mitchell Santner top-scored with an unbeaten 35 off 23, and he and Gregory (28 not out off 18) added an unbroken 66 for the sixth wicket to give the Rockets momentum heading into the break. The wickets were shared between five Brave bowlers, with skipper Chris Jordan curtailing Finn Allen's attacking innings on 23 with a yorker — a full-pitched delivery aimed at the base of the stumps. BBC Sport
One Brave selection drew the eye: 17-year-old quick Manny Lumsden, whose first set disappeared for 19 runs. He was not called upon again in the match — a tough introduction, but the Brave attack adjusted well enough around it.
The Rockets arrived at this match having topped the men's table with 28 points from eight group matches, good enough for automatic qualification into Sunday's final. Sky Sports For context on how dominant that campaign has been, after seven matches they sat on 24 points with six wins, one loss and a net run rate of 0.890. ESPNcricinfo
The Hundred, for anyone less familiar, is cricket's 100-ball-per-side format — each team faces 100 deliveries (grouped into sets of five, not the traditional six-ball overs), and the compressed arithmetic means every ball carries more weight than in a T20. A required-run-rate climb in the final ten balls is not a gentle squeeze; it is a wall.
What makes this result stand out is the timing. A table-topping Rockets side, already assured of their final place, were beaten by a Brave batting effort that absorbed the loss of early wickets and then accelerated through the Stoinis-Stubbs partnership. Stoinis played the enforcer; Stubbs played the closer. When Stoinis fell to a full toss he had no business miscuing, the asking rate tightened — but Stubbs had enough left in reserve to finish it.
The Rockets' women's side have been the story of their competition this season: six wins from seven, 24 points, and a fifth-straight win over MI London that clinched knockout qualification. Sky Sports The men, for all their table-topping consistency, now have a chase to process.
