Mitch Marsh hit six sixes in a 34-ball 69, but Southern Brave chased down Sunrisers Leeds' 187-5 to win by five wickets in The Hundred at Headingley on 25 July 2026.

Both sides were searching for their first win of the 2026 Hundred tournament — the 100-ball-per-side competition that condenses cricket into roughly two and a half hours of non-stop action. Southern Brave won the toss and chose to bowl first, a decision that looked questionable once Marsh found his range.

Marsh, signed directly by Sunrisers Leeds ahead of the 2026 season for a fee of £950,000 deducted from their auction salary pot (The Hundred), repaid that investment with a brutal innings. His 69 came off just 34 deliveries, studded with six maximums — balls cleared over the boundary rope for the full count of runs (BBC Sport).

Sunrisers Leeds posted 187-5 from their 100 balls, a formidable total in any format. In The Hundred, where each team faces 100 deliveries rather than the 120 of a T20 match, anything above 180 usually puts the side batting first in the driver's seat.

Southern Brave had other ideas. They chased the target down with five wickets in hand — meaning five batters were still available to them when the winning runs were scored (ESPNcricinfo). Ryan Rickelton kept wicket for Sunrisers Leeds, while Jamie Smith wore the gloves for Southern Brave.

The match began at 13:30 GMT on Saturday at Headingley, Leeds — the historic ground that has hosted Test cricket since 1899 and now serves as Sunrisers Leeds' home base in The Hundred. Hospitality packages for the fixture had been priced at £120 per adult for a shared box, with a premium option at £250 per adult that later sold out (ECB).

What makes this result sting for Sunrisers Leeds is the margin of Marsh's contribution. A 34-ball 69 with six sixes is the kind of innings that wins matches more often than it loses them. The Brave's chase, executed under the pressure of a rising required rate — the pace at which runs must be scored to reach the target before deliveries run out — handed them their first points of the 2026 campaign and left Leeds still searching for theirs.

For fans of the format, this match delivered the tension The Hundred was designed to create: big hitting, a tall total, and a successful chase that came down to keeping wickets in hand. For Marsh, the innings was a reminder of why Leeds committed nearly a million pounds to bring him in. For Southern Brave, it was the statement result their tournament needed.