Rehan Ahmed sends Birmingham Phoenix spinning to defeat
Rehan Ahmed celebrated his England T20 call-up with a spellbinding 3-22 as the Southern Brave cruised to a four-wicket victory over the Birmingham Phoenix at the Ageas Bowl.
Teenage leg-spinner Ahmed, who is the youngest male cricketer to play all three formats for England, bamboozled the Phoenix through the middle sets, while the lightening quick Tymal Mills starred at the death with 3-20 to restrict the visitors to an under-par 119-8.
George Garton top scored with 28 as Southern Brave got ahead of the rate early and reached their target with six balls to spare.
Brave climb to second in the table to boost their chances of reaching the play-offs whilst the Phoenix remain bottom with progression looking unlikely.
Ashes hero Moeen Ali elected to bat first and Will Smeed and England star Ben Duckett get his die off to a fast star with a partnership of 40.
Smeed fell for 23 while Duckett top scored with 27. Liam Livingstone was dropped in the deep and threatened to make the Brave pay when he dispatched Ahmed and Mills for sixes, however he edged behind off Mills for 25.
Phoenix’s hopes of setting a challenging target disappeared with Livingstone.
The Birmigham-based outfit have now won just once in six games.
Birmingham Phoenix’s winless run in the Women’s Hundred continued as they lost by three runs in a thriller with Southern Brave.
Indian opener Smriti Mandhana (39) and Danni Wyatt (43) shared an 81-run opening stand to help Brave to 132-4.
In the process Mandhana became the first women past 600 runs in the tournament’s history, and
Lauren Bell, Georgia Adams and Anya Shrubsole both took two wickets to make sure Brave defended that total as already eliminated Phoenix reached 129 in front of a record 9,829 for a women’s Hundred game at the Ageas Bowl. Amy Jones top scored with 33 for Phoenix.
