Welsh Fire beat Southern Brave by four wickets at Sophia Gardens, handing the table-toppers their first defeat of the 2025 Hundred women's season. Chasing 122 to win, Fire crossed the line at 122-6 from their full allocation of 100 balls, with Heather Graham striking the winning runs to finish unbeaten on 35 from 28 deliveries BBC Sport.

Southern Brave arrived in Cardiff having won their first five matches of the campaign. They became the first team in the women's competition this season to win the toss and elect to bat, but the decision brought early trouble. Lizelle Lee and Maia Bouchier both fell inside the opening exchanges, leaving Brave rebuilding from the start.

Jemimah Rodrigues and Laura Wolvaardt steadied things with a 49-run stand for the third wicket. Rodrigues made 25 from 21 balls before departing. Wolvaardt went on to anchor the innings, playing the kind of composed knock that a 100-ball format rewards — each delivery is precious, and a settled batter becomes hard to dislodge. She fell two runs short of a half-century, trapped by Graham for 48 from 45, and Southern Brave closed on 121-5 BBC Sport.

Graham's contribution with the ball — two wickets to go with her match-winning innings — made her the standout figure on the night.

Welsh Fire's chase wobbled early. Tilly Corteen-Coleman, an 18-year-old left-arm spinner, removed both openers Georgia Voll and Ella McCaughan in the same set of five deliveries, then came back to dismiss Freya Kemp. In The Hundred, where every set of five balls can swing momentum sharply, that burst left Fire reeling.

When stand-in captain Georgia Wareham fell for 16 to a Lauren Bell slower ball, Fire were 70-5 and the chase looked in genuine danger of stalling. Wareham had taken the reins after Sophie Devine was ruled out for the remainder of the tournament through injury, making the recovery all the more significant for a side still finding its footing.

Grace Thompson and Niamh Holland contributed rapid knocks to shift the pressure back onto the bowlers, before Graham took the chase by the scruff of the neck. Her unbeaten 35 from 28 balls saw Fire home with no balls to spare.

The win was Welsh Fire's second of the 2025 campaign. For Southern Brave, it is the first blemish on an otherwise dominant season — five wins, now one defeat, and still very much in the hunt at the top of the table.