Tom Curran smashed 43 off just 28 balls and took three wickets as the Oval Invincibles beat the Southern Brave by eight runs and all but secured top spot and their place in The Hundred final.
Chris Jordan took three wickets, all clean bowled, in a devasting spell of bowling to leave the Invincibles 90 for seven before Curran rescued the innings in a vital 49-run partnership off just 22 balls with Nathan Sowter to propel the Invincibles to 139 for seven.
Curran took three wickets, and the Invincibles spinners dominated the middle sets to restrict the Brave to 131 for seven.
Tim David top scored with 44 and hit four of the last five balls of the match for six, but the Brave drop to fourth in the table, with a vital last-round clash against Manchester Originals next Wednesday.
Sam Billings elected to bat first and Jason Roy edged his first ball from George Garton for four, then had an early life after he ramped Craig Overton straight to Tymal Mills at short fine leg, but Mills lost sight of the ball at the crucial moment.
Will Jacks pulled an enormous six off Garton and sliced a wide full toss just over short third man for four, but was trapped lbw by Craig Overton.
Roy hit three boundaries with a pull, a flick and a scoop off Overton’s final set of the powerplay as the Invincibles reached 38 for one.
Thirteen deliveries without a boundary followed, and the pressure soon told as Roy was cleaned bowled advancing down the wicket to an 89mph Chris Jordan delivery, and Rehan Ahmed trapped Tawanda Muyeye plumb in front.
Heinrich Klaasen struck three boundaries in four balls, including a glorious shot over extra cover, before Jordan sent his middle stump flying out of the ground with a beauty.
Jordan clean bowled Sam Billings second-ball for his third dismissal in a devastating spell of bowling.
Tymal Mills plucked an incredible one-handed return catch out of the air to remove Sam Curran, and when Ross Whiteley was run out Invincibles had slumped to 90 for seven.
Tom Curran rescued the innings with 43 off 28 in a partnership of 49 off just 22 balls with Sowter.
Tom Curran struck three consecutive boundaries from Mills, hoisted Jordan for an enormous six over mid-wicket in the penultimate set, and tonked Mills over long-on for a six in a final set that went for 17 runs to propel the Invincibles to 139 for seven.
In response Finn Allen struck Spencer Johnson over mid-on, before ramping him past short fine leg. Devon Conway flicked Johnson for a boundary, before hoisting Sowter for six to long-on, and clubbing a four to mid-wicket.
Tom Curran broke the opening stand with a disguised slower ball that Conway nicked behind.
Spin duo Adam Zampa and Sowter dominated after the powerplay, bowling four sets in tandem as the Brave failed muster a boundary for 26 deliveries.
Allen launched Tom Curran for a four and a six through square leg, but skied his next delivery and Roy charged in from long on to take a tough catch on the second juggle.
Soon after Jacks bowled Leus du Plooy with a jaffa and Zampa dismissed Vince who holed out to long-on.
Colin Ackermann clubbed a Sam Curran slower ball straight to deep mid-wicket, before Garton top edged Tom Curran to Billings.
David produced some late fireworks with five enormous sixes to cheer up the crowd, but the Brave fell to an eight-run defeat.
Southern Brave batter Tim David:
"It’s always nice to strike a few sixes, but unfortunately it didn’t really impact the result so it feels a bit wasted.
"The Invincibles played well and we missed a couple of opportunities when we had them at 90 for seven.
"Chris Jordan’s bowling was awesome to see, he’s been so important for us in this competition so it’s great to see him in such good form, he’s smacking it with the bat, we’ve got one more big game to qualify and he’ll be very important for us.
"It was tough to know what a good score was at halfway, the wicket was slow but one batsman can have a day out and chase that score down, we just didn’t get it going. It was probably par or just above, 10 more than we would’ve liked them to have especially from where they were.
"Zampa and Sowter are class wrist spin bowlers, on a fairly slow pitch with not much bounce, and bowling stump to stump on a big outfield, conditions are in their favour, and it’s tough to take those guys down.
"We’ve played our best cricket when we’ve backed our strengths, Flem [Stephen Fleming] has been really good at focusing the boys on simple tasks and it’s just everyone doing their own job and contributing.
"Maybe I could move up the order, but we have class players who are playing in their position for a reason, it becomes tough when you try to play a death hitting role earlier in the innings, you can leave your team very short, so it’s about trying to find the right time for that to happen. There are certain instances where it might happen, but again, there’s different phases of the game. Today the wrist spinners bowled very well and if you try to take them on it could be high risk and you can get out, so it’s really hard to say. I’m going to sit on the fence."
