Southern Brave extended their lead at the top of the table and look favourites to book the first spot in the Hundred final after making it five wins from five with a five-wicket win over London Spirit at Lord’s.

The table-toppers showed why they are regarded as having the best bowling attack in the competition, bowling with excellent control and variation to strangle a Spirit batting line-up that at no point looked like getting away from them.

Brave skipper Sophie Molineux led the way with outstanding figures of 3 for 7 from her 20 balls, the equal second most economical figures in the competition’s history behind only teammate Lauren Bell who took 4 for 6 against Welsh Fire last season.

“The pitch had a little bit in it for the spinners,” Molineux said. “I thought Tilly bowled really well from that top end as well and Glenny played a massive role there in the middle doing what she does best.”

With 115 the target, Marizanne Kapp dismissed Lizelle Lee caught-and-bowled from the fifth ball of the reply and returned to bowl the in-form Jemimah Rodrigues, but the Spirit’s total was never going to be enough on a good Lord’s surface.

Maia Bouchier top-scored for the Brave with 46 from 38 as they stuttered across the line, losing Bouchier and Molineux (23) with one run required – the latter brilliantly caught by Deandra Dottin at midwicket – before they got home with seven balls to spare.

Setting a competitive target looked like a difficult task for the Spirit from the outset. Kapp ended the powerplay brightly with back-to-back fours off Bell to take them to 22 for 2 having lost both Amy Jones and Marie Kelly to Molineux.

The introduction of Sarah Glenn saw the back of Grace Harris and then Sterre Kalis, leaving a lot of pressure on the shoulders of the South African pairing of Kapp and Nadine de Klerk.

They added 27 from 29 balls, labouring against relentlessly tight Brave bowling, before Kapp was caught at point by Jodi Grewcock off Tilly Corteen-Coleman for 34 from 27.

Some brief momentum came off the bat of de Klerk as she launched Glenn for two maximums, but the returning Molineux then removed Dottin and de Klerk fell to Corteen-Coleman as the home side closed on 114 for 8, leaving them needing to break the record for the lowest total successfully defended at Lord’s if they were to be victorious.

They weren’t able to do it and the loss leaves the Spirit with just one win from their first four matches, but still in with a chance of an eliminator spot as the Hundred reaches its halfway stage.