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Sophie Devine’s 52 and a blistering 43* off 20 balls from Georgia Wareham powered Welsh Fire Women to 177 for 4 — the third-highest total in Women’s Hundred history — at Sophia Gardens on Saturday, before Grace Potts’ 3 for 24 helped dismiss MI London Women for 117 as the Fire cruised to a comprehensive 60-run victory.
They finished bottom last summer. On Saturday in Cardiff they posted the third-highest total in the history of The Hundred Women’s Competition. Welsh Fire are a very different team this year — and after a 60-run demolition of MI London at Sophia Gardens, their title credentials are impossible to ignore.
Welsh Fire’s innings was built on foundation and explosion in equal measure. The powerplay yielded 38 runs without loss from the first 25 balls — a measured but purposeful start that set the platform for what was to come. The Fire reached 50 in 37 balls, the run rate already above par and the MI London bowlers searching for answers on a true Sophia Gardens surface.
Devine made 52 — a captain’s innings of timing and authority, the New Zealand skipper finding the gaps with the ease of a player who has been in this position many times before at the highest level. Her half-century set the tone, but it was the late acceleration that truly separated Welsh Fire from a merely good total and something historic.
After the strategic timeout at 115 for 3 from 75 balls, Devine and Wareham put on 50 runs in just 23 balls for the fourth wicket — a partnership that shredded the MI London death bowling and took the innings beyond 170. Georgia Voll contributed 42 in the middle order, her footwork and power through the leg side particularly destructive. Then came Wareham.
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Wareham — The All-Rounder Who Won the Match Before Bowling
Georgia Wareham’s 43* off 20 balls in the closing overs was the innings of the match. The Australian leg-spinner — a player whose batting has always complemented her bowling brilliantly — launched MI London’s death bowlers to all corners of Sophia Gardens, her strike rate of 215 in those closing balls telling the full story. By the time the innings closed on 177 for 4, the total felt beyond MI London from the first ball of their reply.
Narrowly defeated by Southern Brave in their opening fixture in a game they should have won, Welsh Fire had identified this match as their chance to announce themselves. The batting group delivered emphatically — and then handed the ball to Wareham and Grace Potts to finish the job.
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Potts Breaks MI London’s Back
Chasing 178, MI London needed the kind of start that could shift momentum. Instead they found Grace Potts. Potts took 3 for 24 — her pace, length and movement with the new ball giving MI London’s top order no chance to settle on a surface that was doing just enough to reward good bowling. The Fire’s spinners were also tidy as MI London’s batters simply could not get going on a good pitch, and Fire always seemed a step ahead.
Phoebe Henry top-scored for MI London with 30 — a cameo of defiance in an otherwise bleak chase, her boundaries providing brief respite for the MI London dugout before the wickets continued to fall at the other end. MI London have a tendency of starting slow and then finishing with a flourish, but they will have to start playing much better if they are to mount any kind of campaign in this competition. Bowled out for 117 with eight balls remaining, their evening in Cardiff was one to forget.
The Bigger Picture: Fire as Title Contenders
Three matches into the Women’s Hundred 2026 and Welsh Fire have an identity — big batting, smart bowling, and a captain in Devine who has been in this competition long enough to know exactly what winning looks like. The wooden spoon from 2025 already looks like ancient history.
For MI London, the concern is structural. Two matches in and they are yet to fire as a batting unit — their innings in Cardiff lasting just 92 balls before the last wicket fell. The individual talent is undeniably there; the collective execution has not yet arrived.
Welsh Fire remain one of the most compelling stories in The Hundred Women’s 2026. If Wareham bowls the way she batted on Saturday, they will be very hard to stop.
Result: Welsh Fire Women won by 60 runs
Player of the Match: Georgia Wareham (WF-W) — 43* (20) & 2/23
Scorecard:
Welsh Fire Women 177/4 (100 balls) — Devine 52, Voll 42, Wareham 43* (20); Hayley Matthews 2/52
MI London Women 117 all out (92 balls) — Henry 30; Potts 3/24, Wareham 2/23, Devine 2/15
