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The Hundred women’s competition, Old Trafford

Manchester Originals 95-8 (100 balls): Smale 40* (34); Bell 3-28

Southern Brave 96-4 (89 balls): Wolvaardt 42* (37); Gregory 1-11

Southern Brave won by six wickets

England seamer Lauren Bell took 3-28 as Southern Brave cruised to a six-wicket win in their opening fixture against Manchester Originals in The Hundred.

Mady Villiers chipped with in with figures of 2-19, while 17-year-old Tilly Corteen-Coleman claimed 1-12 in a dismal Originals batting performance.

Only Seren Smale emerged with any credit from the home side’s innings, finishing with an undefeated 40 to take her team to 95-8 from their hundred balls.

South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt top-scored in Brave’s chase, striking 42 not out against her former team.

The visiting side never looked in danger of failing to reach their low target, but did see four wickets fall, with Dani Gregory taking 1-11.

After reaching the final of the first three editions of The Hundred, winning in 2023, Southern Brave had a shocking campaign last year – winning just one of their eight matches as they finished bottom.

On this evidence they will fare better this season, with an attack spear-headed by Bell and a supporting cast of impressive spinners.

England’s opening bowler broke the stumps of Kathryn Bryce in her first set and saw New Zealand international Melie Kerr paddle the final ball of the powerplay straight to Chloe Tryon.

Meanwhile Villiers accounted for Originals captain Beth Mooney, with the world’s number one batter cutting to Danni Wyatt-Hodge for just one.

Originals slipped to 66-8 after 74 balls, with 17-year-old Corteen-Coleman bowling the big-hitting Deandra Dottin for eight and Bell catching Fi Morris off her own bowling.

Smale dragged her side towards vague respectability, putting on an unbroken partnership of 29 with Gregory.

Her score of 40 from 34 deliveries was easily the highest of the Originals innings, with Kerr (14) the only other batter to make double figures.

Brave lost opener Maia Bouchier early on, caught by Ecclestone off Dottin for six, bringing Wolvaardt to the crease.

The South African, who was making her first appearance in a Brave shirt after two years at Old Trafford, put on 48 for the second wicket with Danni Wyatt-Hodge, who made 32.

She saw Wyatt-Hodge and Sophie Devine dismissed in the space of five balls and Freya Kemp caught off Kerr with 16 more runs required.

We’re off to Headingley on Thursday as Northern Superchargers take on Welsh Fire in another double-header.

“Under the ownership, I’m sure this club is going to arrive in the Premier League,” says Birmingham manager Chris Davies.

“This ambition is there to inspire us, but because of what happened last time they know how unforgiving it can be.

“The ambition is great but there’s a clear understanding of how hard it is.”

This time 12 months ago Blues were preparing for their first season in the third tier for 30 years after a chastening relegation from the Championship.

But there was never cause for concern as Birmingham then stormed to the League One title – with an EFL record of 111 points.

However, with Friday’s Championship opener at home to Ipswich looming, success brings greater expectation.

Results will dictate the mood but chairman and owner Tom Wagner said in June back-to-back promotions was achievable and it is accepted a mid-table finish would be a disappointment.

New signings have been made aware of the expectations this season, to challenge for promotion and join Norwich, Southampton and Ipswich in having gone from League One to the Premier League in successive seasons.

Birmingham’s journey to the top flight, if and when they reach it, would have started with a detour through League One.

Relegation and five permanent managers in the first season of Knighthead’s ownership was not in the script when they bought the club in July 2023.

The ill-advised sacking of John Eustace – who had Birmingham sitting sixth in the Championship in October that year – was followed by Wayne Rooney’s desperately disappointing tenure.

The ex-England captain lasted 83 days as Blues plummeted from the play-offs to 20th. It was a lesson learned.

Birmingham were always going to make a change but recognised they made it too soon.

Even at the time, minority owner – and seven-time Super Bowl winner – Tom Brady had reservations with Rooney.

In Birmingham’s new Amazon Prime documentary series, the NFL icon said: “I’m a little worried about our head coach’s work ethic. I mean, I don’t know, I don’t have great instincts on that.”

Tony Mowbray was appointed but his diagnosis for bowel cancer, something which could have never been predicted, saw him step aside in March 2024. Assistant Mark Venus tried to steady the ship before ex-boss Gary Rowett returned, only to fall short of survival.

Last summer, former Leicester assistant Davies was handed his first senior role and, while he and his staff pulled things together on the pitch, the foundations had been laid for an immediate return to the Championship.

Even before Knighthead officially took over, they provided the money to start work to open the lower tiers of the Kop and Tilton Stands which had been closed for more than two years due to asbestos concerns.

The crumbling terraces at St Andrew’s were a perfect metaphor for the club.

When the grow lights, which help maintain the turf, were plugged in earlier in Knighthead’s reign, they fused the stadium, with the internet and computers crashing, highlighting a previously unknown power issue.

Between £20m-£25m has since been spent on the stadium – and this is before the club moves to a new ground as part of a £3bn regeneration of a new Sports Quarter in the city.

That moved a step closer in June when the government pledged funds, part of a £2.4bn investment in the West Midlands, to create a tramline from the centre to the new 62,000-seater stadium, which Wagner wants open in five years.

There has always been an acknowledgement, especially internally, that the project is about reviving part of the city – some of the most deprived areas – through the club, a bigger picture than just restoring Blues themselves.

Promises have been backed up, meaning trust, respect and belief has been built.

“Actions speak louder than words and the actions have all been there. People are willing to believe it and put their trust in it,” said one source.

Chief executive Jeremy Dale pulled pints at the final home game against Mansfield in April, while director Andrew Shanahan jumped behind the bar to help short-handed staff earlier in the season.

Brady has bought drinks in the Royal George Hotel next to the stadium, while Wagner has also put his card behind the bar several times.

Yet it is more than just about getting a round in.

On Saturday, in the 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest in the Trevor Francis Memorial Match, the club hosted the family of 16-year-old fan Daniel Drewitt, who drowned in the lake at Sutton Park in July, with the stadium rising to pay tribute in the 16th minute.

An on-off move for Ajax’s Chuba Akpom ended in frustration with the striker preferring a move to Ipswich, who are also back in the second tier after relegation from the Premier League.

The former Arsenal and Middlesbrough forward was in Birmingham and due for a medical, but instead he opted to travel to Suffolk to finalise a move – a rare blow in a summer of ambitious recruitment.

Winger Demarai Gray, a Premier League title winner with Leicester, returned to St Andrew’s after leaving to join the Foxes in 2016.

Spells at Bayer Leverkusen and Everton followed, while the 29-year-old rejoined Birmingham after just under two years in Saudi Arabia with Al-Ettifaq.

England Under-21 goalkeeper James Beadle, who helped the Young Lions win Euro 2025 in Slovakia this summer, has also joined on loan from Brighton for a large six-figure fee.

Midfielder Tommy Doyle’s loan from Wolves will turn into a £10m permanent deal on promotion, while former Celtic forward Kyogo Furuhashi arrived for a reported £10m from Rennes.

The moves follow the £15m outlay for striker Jay Stansfield last summer, with the striker scoring 23 goals in all competitions.

It was the largest part of the £25m outlay that led to Birmingham finishing 19 points clear of second-placed Wrexham.

They deliberately ensured the majority of business was done early this year, signing one a day in the opening week of the transfer window – including the free transfer arrival of defender Phil Neumann from Hannover.

There is a recognition everything has happened at speed in the last two years.

While there has been little time for a breather and nothing is ever guaranteed, confidence remains high at St Andrew’s.

Is the pressure on then? Expectation levels change, naturally, and there is a recognition at the club there is likely to be a reality check at times in the Championship.

Pride comes before a fall but, when that was put to a senior source, the response was that it only came when the work-rate dropped. There was no sign of that, though, as the work ethic for success only increased – Wagner and the board demand results, with the chairman described as being “always in a hurry”.

When he and the new board arrived, the word ‘unbelievable’ was used in early leadership team meetings. That stemmed from the shock League Cup win in 2011 – Obafemi Martins’ last-minute goal snatching a 2-1 win over Arsenal at Wembley.

Birmingham were huge underdogs – relegated too at the end of that campaign – but the word ‘unbelievable’ was heard, almost on repeat, from a stunned but delirious fanbase.

It was the highest point of an era which saw relegation, then owner Carson Yeung charged with money laundering in 2011 – he was eventually jailed – and another evasive and divisive ownership in Trillion Trophy Asia, which led to huge fractures within the club, and between them and the fanbase.

Yet the euphoria of their Wembley triumph was not forgotten – and that feeling has been harnessed by those currently overseeing their revival.