SOUTHERN Brave beat Birmingham Phoenix in a thrilling Super Five contest at the Kia Oval to book their place in the Hundred final at Lord’s on Sunday.

Chris Jordan was the match-winner in a nerve-shredding encounter, hitting 10 from three balls to surpass Phoenix’s total of seven from their Super Five.

Liam Livingstone had looked set to take Phoenix to The Hundred final with his 55, which included a huge six from an Akeal Hosein no-ball to leave Birmingham needing three runs from five balls.

Hosein dismissed Livingstone with his next delivery and defended to bring around the first-ever Super Five in the Hundred.

In the first innings of the match, James Vince made 43 for Southern Brave and Leus du Plooy 39. Jordan (20 not out) struck two sixes in the final set bowled by Sean Abbott which would ultimately prove crucial – a taste of things to come from the bat of the England all-rounder.

Phoenix’s run chase got off to a slow start, but with contributions from captain Moeen Ali (24) and Jacob Bethell (17) the Birmingham side began to close down on the target.

Livingstone was in full control – hitting Jofra Archer out of the ground – but his dismissal and some late drama saw the scores level at 126 apiece.

Batting first in the five-balls-per-side contest, Livingstone was unable to atone for his late dismissal – falling first ball when flashing a full toss from Archer to backward point.

Bethell smashed the second ball wide of long on for four, but no more boundaries were forthcoming, leaving Jordan and Kieron Pollard needing to surpass seven to make the Lord’s final.

Jordan got a slice of luck to inside edge his first delivery for four behind square on the leg-side and followed up with a two and another boundary to see Brave make the Hundred Final for the second time.

Archer, who was the Meerkat Match Hero, said: “Just relieved to be honest, I thought I’d given it away in that second to last over.”

On his last three deliveries, he said: “You’ve just got to commit to it. Some days it happens for you and some days it doesn’t, and I’m just glad today is one of the days that it worked for me.

“We’ve got 11 match-winners and the guys that are not in the XI are match-winners themselves, so the team has so much talent it doesn’t matter what team we put out there, I back the guys all the way.”