‌Winning the toss and electing to bat first did not pan out well for the Northern Brave with Canterbury openers Chad Bowes and Black Cap veteran Tom Latham attacking from the very first over. Although Brave’s star bowler Tim Pringle gave the initial breakthrough by dismissing Bowes, the attack continued from the other end to take them to 47/1 at the end of the powerplay. Henry Nicholls and Cole McConchie further accelerated the innings with few blows targeting Pringle and Frederick Walker. Although the Brave bowlers were successful in bowling a few good deliveries that helped them scalp Latham and McConchie in quick succession, the duo of Nicholls and Mitchell Hay made a mockery of the bowling attack. Nicholls scored a steady 76 off 50 which included 10 boundaries and a lone six while his partner Matthew Hay one-upped him with an even mightier 73 off 31 deliveries, laced with 4 boundaries and 6 huge sixes. Taking over at 96/3 in the 13th over, the duo stitched an unbeaten 106-run stand, whacking 79 runs in the last five overs in the process to make the scorecard read 202/3.