Trent Rockets Men snatched the final spot in the knockout stages of The Hundred as Joe Root’s second straight half-century secured a nervy three-wicket win over Welsh Fire.
Root backed up his 76 from 41 balls against Oval Invincibles last time out with an unbeaten 64 off 41 against Fire as Rockets reached to their target of 151 with one delivery to spare in Cardiff.
The visitors were seemingly coasting, only to then lose five wickets for 20 runs from 116-2 – including a stretch of three for five – and the ask became 15 from six balls once David Payne dismissed Marcus Stoinis (1) and David Willey (0) from successive deliveries.
However, Root – who had been caught off a Payne no-ball on nought at the start of the innings and then cracked the resulting free hit for six – began the final set of five by flogging Chris Green for six and four, before Sam Hain’s boundary clinched the win.
Rockets join defending champions Invincibles and Northern Superchargers in securing a top-three finish, with Fire, Southern Brave, London Spirit, Manchester Originals and Birmingham Phoenix now eliminated from play-off contention.
Fire earlier made 150-6 batting first, thanks to Stephen Eskinazi (53 off 42) and skipper Tom Abell (48 off 29) after England Ashes hopeful Sam Cook had removed Jonny Bairstow (8) and Steve Smith (8) cheaply.
Fire’s final group game against Brave on Thursday is now a dead rubber, while Rockets know that a win over Phoenix on Wednesday could be enough to secure top spot and direct progression to the final depending on how Invincibles and Superchargers fare against Spirit and Originals respectively earlier in the week.
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Welsh Fire’s Stephen Eskinazi smashed a monster six over the pavilion and out of the ground in Cardiff
Livingstone, Duckett help Phoenix down Originals
In Sunday’s evening game, Phoenix won the battle of two newly-eliminated teams as they eased to a seven-wicket victory over Originals, chasing down a target of 110 with 17 balls to spare on a slow surface at Emirates Old Trafford.
Ben Duckett (49no off 38 balls) and Joe Clarke (40 off 21) scored the bulk of Phoenix’s runs as the away side jumped from sixth to fourth in the standings on net run-rate and Originals slipped to the foot of the table on the same metric, below Fire.
Phoenix skipper Liam Livingstone made just four with the bat but earlier snaffled 2-11 with his spin bowling – the same figures as left-arm seamer Chris Wood – as Originals were restricted to 109-7.
Livingstone dismissed Jos Buttler (5) lbw and had Rachin Ravindra (13 off 7) caught by Jacob Bethell at cover as Phil Salt (31 off 20) – who was pouched by Duckett at long-on off Bethell’s bowling – and Heinrich Klaasen (34 off 35) top-scored for Originals.
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There was confusion in the Birmingham Phoenix vs Manchester Originals match as the umpire went to signal a wicket… then changed his mind!
How do matches work?
One hundred balls a side, the team with the most runs wins. It is as simple as that.Five bowlers can bowl up to 20 balls in an innings, including five or 10 in a row.The traditional six-ball overs seen in other forms of cricket are not used in The Hundred, with 10 balls bowled before a change of ends.The powerplay is for the first 25 balls of an innings, with only two fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle.A 25-ball-a-side game is the minimum length that can be played in the event of wet weather.
What’s coming up on Monday?
Oval Invincibles welcome London Spirit to The Kia Oval with the the women’s match under way from 3pm and the men’s getting going at 6.30pm, live on Sky Sports Cricket.
Watch every match across the women’s and men’s competitions in The Hundred live on Sky Sports until August 31.
