Teenage leg-spinner Ahmed bamboozled Phoenix through the middle sets, while the lightning-quick Mills starred at the death with 3 for 20 to restrict the visitors to an under-par 119 for 8
Southampton: Birmingham Phoenix 119-8, Southern Brave 120-6 - Southern Brave won by four wickets
Rehan Ahmed celebrated his England T20 callup with a spellbinding 3 for 22 as Southern Brave cruised to a four-wicket victory over Birmingham Phoenix.
Teenage leg-spinner Ahmed bamboozled Phoenix through the middle sets, while the lightning-quick Tymal Mills starred at the death with 3 for 20 to restrict the visitors to an under-par 119 for 8.
George Garton top-scored with 28 as Southern Brave got ahead of the rate early and reached their target with six balls to spare.
Brave climb to second in the table to boost their chances of reaching the playoffs whilst Phoenix remain bottom, with progression looking unlikely.
Ashes hero Moeen Ali elected to bat first and Will Smeed started fast, striking three boundaries off Garton and Craig Overton's opening end. England star Ben Duckett soon joined the fun, striking boundaries with a cut, flick and ramp.
Southern Brave's Rehan Ahmed claimed three wickets [Getty Images]
Smeed crashed two glorious drives through the offside for four, and had a life when he was put down by Tim David in the deep, but his luck ran out when he was beaten by the extra pace of Mills and top-edged a pull to Leus du Plooy to leave the Phoenix 40 for 1 after the powerplay.
Brave captain James Vince turned to spin and was vindicated as Ahmed trapped Jamie Smith lbw before bowling Duckett around his legs with a googly.
Off-spinner Colin Ackermann picked up the prize scalp of Moeen as both spinners dominated, bowling back-to-back 10-ball sets.
Ahmed picked up his third wicket after Dan Mousley overbalanced to a legside delivery and was smartly stumped by Devon Conway.
Livingstone was dropped in the deep and threatened to make Brave pay when he dispatched Ahmed and Mills for sixes, however he edged behind off Mills.
In the final end, Benny Howell fell to a Jordan slower ball and Chris Woakes holed out to long-off as Mills picked up his third wicket.
Ben Duckett is bowled [Getty Images]
Finn Allen set about making light work of the target, striking Woakes over extra cover, before launching fellow New Zealander Adam Milne for a six over long-on, and hitting Woakes for consecutive boundaries over his head.
Allen fell soon after when he could only glove an attempted ramp off Kane Richardson to Smith.
Vince worked a Richardson in-swinger behind square for four off his first delivery, before assertively pulling Woakes to the boundary. However, the Brave captain was bowled after advancing down the pitch to a Moeen delivery that spun between bat and pad.
Conway was run out after a mixup, however a quickfire partnership of 44 between Garton and du Plooy put Brave firmly in control.
Garton fell after looping a catch to point, David holed out to cow corner and du Plooy was trapped lbw as Brave stumbled over the line for a vital victory.
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