Matt Short returned from injury to guide Welsh Fire to their fourth win out of five in the Hundred, completing a double over Southern Brave to keep pace with Trent Rockets at the top of the table.

Short missed Fire’s win over Birmingham Phoenix on Saturday with a niggle but slotted back in at the top of the order and batted through the chase to finish 60 not out on what he called a “spicy” surface at Sophia Gardens, that offered plenty to both sides’ seam bowlers.

“It was tough early and it was a pretty spicy wicket with some quick bowlers,” Short said. “It was nice to bat second and get a bit of dew and skid off the wicket. They came hard with a Test-match length but the shine wears off and it gets a bit easier. When we bowled, our guys hit the right length and let the ball do the talking.”

Fire opted to bowl and their battery of experienced seamers were immediately into the action, Chris Woakes and Sam Cook reducing the Brave to 2 for 2 off seven balls as Jamie Smith and Ben McKinney both edged behind to Phil Salt.

The Cook-Salt combo also accounted for Nikhil Chaudhary after he and Marcus Stoinis had taken the Brave to an underwhelming 45 for 3 at the halfway stage. Not long after, Rachin Ravindra snared Tristan Stubbs and Moeen Ali in successive balls, the latter caught by Joe Root off a skier.

The Brave were chugging along at barely a run a ball on a tricky surface but Stoinis added some impetus, going to a 35-ball half century before hitting Cook, who returned a magnificent 3-14, down deep square leg’s throat.

David Miller hit a couple of late sixes but Short, coming on to bowl for the first time in the final over of the innings, had him caught on the edge of the ring. Jofra Archer hit a first-ball six but was gone second ball and the Brave ended with 115 for 8, their lowest-ever total in The Hundred.

With little margin for error, Archer set the tone for the Brave, delighting in getting Salt with his first ball and not conceding a run until his eighth. But Short and Root kept things moving, knowing that one or two partnerships would be enough, and calmly took the score to 60 off 48 before Root departed, caught by McKinney off Chris Jordan.

Ravindra and Jordan Cox came and went but Tom Kohler-Cadmore did the needful, keeping the scoreboard ticking and supporting Short – who reached a 37-ball 50 with a scoop off Archer and made good use of the ramp throughout to the short straight boundaries – to see his side home.