Southern Brave’s disappointing Hundred title defence ended with a whimper as they failed to chase 136 in a 16-run defeat against Northern Superchargers at Headingley.
Both teams, out of finals contention before a ball was bowled here, should have performed better with the bat on a pitch which was tired but not disastrously so.
Harry Brook top-scored with 29 for the Superchargers, who were inserted by the reigning champions and made 135 for eight.
Fledgling leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed and seamer James Fuller each finished with two for 20.
In reply, Brave slumped to 34 for four in 26 balls and failed to recover. In posting 119 for nine, they suffered a fifth defeat in eight.
Ahmed continued his impressive day with 33 runs but South African left-arm pace bowler Wayne Parnell’s outstanding four for 16 ensured the Superchargers finished with a fourth win added to as many defeats.
After a breezy start, the Superchargers were checked by the varied spin of leg-spinner Ahmed, off-spinner Paul Stirling and left-armer Jake Lintott. Ahmed claimed two wickets and the other two struck once each.
Three of their top four batsmen reached 20 but failed to make 30. And after the early departure of captain Faf du Plessis to Ahmed, caught by mid-on running around towards mid-off, his opening partner Adam Lyth made 20, David Willey reached 22 and Brook notched up 29.
But all holed out to catches in the deep as the score fell to 91 for four after 67 balls.
Seamer Sonny Baker had Lyth caught at deep midwicket off a top-edge and Brook taken in the same position pulling before Ahmed struck again when Adam Hose found long-on.
Michael Pepper, David Wiese and Parnell all made it into double figures and threatened late acceleration, though Brave were as clinical with the ball and in the field as they were so often last year.
Seamer Fuller removed Wiese and Adil Rashid in the penultimate set of five – again to catches in the deep.
After being polished with the ball and in the field, the Brave were all over the place with the bat in the early stages of their reply, losing some serious firepower in the first 26 balls.
Quinton de Kock was run out trying to take a suicidal single to short fine-leg before Parnell’s left-arm seam accounted for Stirling and Alex Davies.
Left-arm spinner Callum Parkinson then bowled captain James Vince.
From 34 for four, Ahmed and Ross Whiteley steadied with a partnership of 27.
However, when the latter miscued Rashid’s leg-spin to long-on, leaving the score at 61 for five after 49 balls, it felt a decisive juncture. And so it proved.
Tim David drilled Wiese to long-off shortly afterwards. And Ahmed shared 28 in 26 balls with Fuller, both hitting strong shots down the ground.
But when Ahmed miscued Parnell to long-on, leaving the score at 104 for seven after 83 balls, 32 runs were still required.
That target became 26 off 10, and it was all but game over when Parnell yorked Fuller for 25 to leave 22 still needed off six.
Willey closed things out by bowling Baker and celebrated with a forward roll.
