Ellyse Perry takes three wickets in six balls as Phoenix win first home game

ECB Media03-Aug-2024After losing 12 completed games in a row, Birmingham Phoenix, inspired by captain Ellyse Perry, made it two wins from two by squeezing the life out of Southern Brave to win by 16 runs at Edgbaston.With a hint of rain in the air, Phoenix were put in by Georgia Adams and a steady start was only interrupted when 16-year-old slow-left armer Tilly Corteen-Coleman struck with her first ball to have Sophie Devine lbw. She struck again, Rhianna Southby effecting a smart stumping to get rid of Sterre Kalis, forcing Perry and Amy Jones to consolidate.They added 23 for the third wicket before Perry holed out to Maia Bouchier at long-on. With the score 55 for 3 at the halfway stage, the Phoenix needed to accelerate and did through Jones, and a cameo of 22 in 12 balls from Emily Arlott that included two sixes.Jones’s half-century saw Phoenix reach 137 for 7, with Lauren Cheatle having conceded just 14 runs from her 20-ball allocation.After three boundaries from the returning Smriti Mandhana at the start of the Brave innings, it became the Perry show, as the Australia legend picked up three key wickets – Mandhana, Bouchier for a duck, and skipper Adams – in her first ten deliveries.Danni Wyatt and Freya Kemp steadied the ship, the former striking a typically belligerent 33-ball 43 before Charis Pavely got rid of Kemp and Hannah Baker induced an error from Wyatt.At 92 for 5 from 69 balls, the momentum was with the Phoenix, and all of their bowlers stuck to their task admirably, throttling the Brave innings as the required run-rate climbed and the visitors simply ran out of steam.”Emily Arlott’s innings was the difference, clearing the fence with ease,” Jones said. “And Pez’s start was unbelievable. When you have someone like that, who can deliver such performances, it is a huge lift for the team. We were really good in the field and backed up the bowlers.”