AUSTRALIA leg-spinner Amanda-Jade Wellington brushed off concerns after the Southern Brave’s first loss of the competition saying “a little kick up the butt is no bad thing.”

Brave fell 20 runs short against the Northern Superchargers on Wednesday afternoon before watching Oval Invincibles leapfrog them with victory in Manchester to secure a place in Saturday’s Lord’s final.

Wellington though was confident the Eliminator could be a good thing for the Southampton-based side.

“Every now and again a defeat isn’t the worst thing,” said Wellington. “If we end up playing the semi-final, it might give us some momentum going into the final…I guess a little kick up the butt is no bad thing.”

The loss is unchartered waters for the Brave who have so far had an untroubled run in the competition.

“Oh God, no,” she said on whether the side could lose confidence after the defeat. “We know we’ve got a brilliant squad and if some of our players don’t perform there are always others who can step up.”

“Sophia Dunkley is a rock in our batting order and at the end, the likes of Anya (Shrubsole) and myself can put in cameos and with the ball we also have that depth.”

Wellington starred herself with both the bat and ball at Headingley, taking three wickets in the Superchargers’ innings before scoring a rapid 25 off 10 including four fours and a six.

“It’s been awesome,” she said of her personal form. “I was a little bit devastated not getting a game in the Commonwealth Games but coming here knowing I’d play every game was something I was really looking forward to. It’s been everything I hoped it would be.”

The Superchargers had a chance of qualification hinged on bowling the Brave out for 99 or less having set them 146 to win. After quick wickets reduced the visitors to 64 for six, the challenge was on, but cameos from the lower order ended the home side's chances of progressing.

“It’s a bittersweet win,” said Superchargers’ captain Holly Armitage. “We knew going out there with the ball we had to restrict them to 99 to get the net run rate up… It was unfortunate we weren’t able to do that.”

Earlier in the day, Laura Wolvaardt had become the record holder for the highest amount of runs scored (286) across a season in the Hundred’s short history.

“The way Wolfy went about it was brilliant,” said Armitage. “She has been superb all tournament to be fair, that’s why she’s leading the way with her runs.”