The Hundred is one of the youngest competitions in cricket, with 2025 being just the fifth edition of the novel tournament. In contrast, Test cricket dates back to 1877 and – prepare to feel decidedly old – even the IPL is set to play its 19th season next time around.
As such, records unique to The Hundred are set frequently, simply because there isn’t much history to beat. And cricket is a sport in which it is easy for players or teams to create firsts, or new benchmarks, because there is such a wealth of stats and hyper-specific records.
However, last Thursday night, the Southern Brave women made genuinely noteworthy history. The 2023 champions became the first team – either men’s or women’s – to win all eight of their group games. That is a feat that will take some matching and would require an expansion of the league for any side to better it.
The first team to go unbeaten in the history of #TheHundred group stage 💚👊 pic.twitter.com/asCct1VA04
— The Hundred (@thehundred) August 28, 2025
Matches in The Hundred can be swung so easily by one brilliant innings or an explosive spell of bowling. This means it is so difficult to win every game, and the weather is another huge factor. The summer of 2025 has been one of the driest in memory. That is great for cricket, less so for the planet in general! Whether such summers are set to become the norm remains to be seen, but even with excellent weather, posting a perfect eight from eight in The Hundred will still be a massive task.
Best Before Brave’s Perfect Eight
The 2025 squad of the Southern Brave will go down in history as the first to have gone through the group stage with a 100% record. Captained by Georgia Adams, who signed for Hampshire in 2025, they have made history, but how close had anyone been to a perfect eight before them?
Well, as close as can be is the answer and, in fact, they themselves almost landed a 100% record in the first group stage The Hundred ever held. Back in 2021, the Southern Brave women topped the group with seven wins and just one loss from their eight matches. They were hammered in the final by the Oval Invincibles, but their only other loss came at Old Trafford against the Manchester Originals.
Showing how good the Southern Brave have been, they recorded a 7-1 season again in 2023. Their sole loss then came early in the campaign against Welsh Fire at the Rose Bowl, when the hosts fell just five runs short of chasing down a big target of 166 to win. They bounced back brilliantly from the loss, though, winning every game after that, including the final.
Last season was perhaps the most even The Hundred has seen, certainly in the women’s game. Two teams finished level on 11 points at the top, with just five wins, with just two points separating third (four wins) and second-last/seventh (three wins).
The men’s game, which has never seen a clean sweep, saw the Invincibles and the Phoenix tie at the top last year, with 6-2 records. Two other teams won five of their eight matches. Overall, it has been harder for any side in the men’s tournament to really dominate. Not only have we never seen a team deliver a perfect eight wins, but we have yet to see one manage even seven victories.
All of this means that in The Hundred, the Southern Brave are the only side to have ever won all of their games in the group stage. What’s more, they are also the only ones to win seven matches in a campaign, across both the men’s and the women’s competition!
8 Out of 8 for Brave
| Date | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 6th Aug | Manchester Originals | Southern Brave Win by 6 Wickets |
| 10th Aug | Birmingham Phoenix | Southern Brave Win by 15 Runs |
| 13th Aug | Northern Superchargers | Southern Brave Win by 8 Wickets |
| 16th Aug | Trent Rockets | Southern Brave Win by 6 Wickets |
| 18th Aug | Oval Invincibles | Southern Brave Win by 89 Runs |
| 20th Aug | Welsh Fire | Southern Brave Win by 3 Wickets |
| 23rd Aug | London Spirit | Southern Brave Win by 8 Wickets |
| 28th Aug | Welsh Fire | Southern Brave Win by 29 Runs |
Adams and her brilliant team were unable to emulate the success of the Southern Brave women in 2023, and men in 2021, by winning at Lord’s in the final. However, despite being unable to lift the trophy, this has been a campaign to remember, and this is exactly how they made history.
Match 2: 6th of August, beat Originals by six wickets
Southern Brave took part in the second women’s game of the season, away to Manchester Originals. They restricted the hosts to just 95 for the loss of eight wickets. An unbeaten 42 from 37 balls by Laura Wolvaardt saw them home with 11 balls to spare.
Match 7: 10th of August, beat Phoenix by 15 runs
They were put into bat at the Rose Bowl in their second fixture and made a solid-looking 139/7. Sophie Devine was the player of the match thanks to 27 with the bat and two wickets, but fellow opening bowler Lauren Bell could easily have done so thanks to three wickets in 19 balls that went for just 17 runs. Phoenix were all out for 124 off the penultimate ball of their innings.
Match 11: 13th of August, beat Superchargers by eight wickets
This was a statement win over the team that would go on to finish second. The Northern Superchargers chose to bat, but it looked like a poor decision when they were restricted to 102 runs. The hosts raced to 103/2 off 83 balls to win with real ease.
Match 15: 16th of August, beat Rockets by six wickets
This was one of the Brave’s harder-fought wins, despite winning the toss. They opted to bowl and when they dismissed the home side for just 106 off the final ball of the innings, they must have thought another easy win awaited. However, they struggled to get going, despite 42 from 30 balls by Maia Bouchier, and limped across the line with just two balls to spare.
Match 19: 18th of August, beat Invincibles by 89 runs
They bounced back in fine style, thrashing the Invincibles by 89 runs after posting 161 on home soil. Wolvaardt again displayed her power, hitting 36 from 19 balls, before the Brave dismissed the Oval side for a mere 72 from 83 balls.
Match 21: 20th of August, beat Fire by three wickets
It was another tense affair against the Welsh fire, though, as the Brave got home with just a ball to spare. Chasing 112 in Cardiff, they needed 99 balls and seven wickets to get there.
Match 26: 23rd of August, beat Spirit by eight wickets
They were back to their best against one of their title rivals (Spirit would finish third), as they won easily at Lord’s. They restricted the hosts to 125 and then got home with six balls to spare and plenty of batting left in the hutch.
Match 32: 28th of August, beat Fire by 29 runs
There was pressure for the Brave coming into this one because it was both the “local derby” game and also their chance to make history. They made light of that, though, to send their fans home from the Rose Bowl very happy, and surely confident of success in the final. They only made 106/8, but then on a tricky wicket, restricted the Fire to 77/9. Incredibly, Lauren Bell posted figures of 4/6 from 20 balls. That earned her the player of the match and gave her 19 wickets for the season, a record tally in The Hundred.