Nat Sciver-Brunt hit her third half-century of the competition as Trent Rockets concluded their Hundred campaign with a three-wicket victory over Birmingham Phoenix to rise to fourth in the table.
Sciver-Brunt finished as the leading run-scorer in last summer’s women’s competition and the England skipper’s thrilling innings of 52 from 29 balls at Trent Bridge moved her up to second place in this season’s batting charts, behind Meg Lanning of Oval Invincibles.
After the Rockets had been set 124 for victory, Em Arlott clean bowled the dangerous Bryony Smith for 10 with a superb slower yorker but Sciver-Brunt was quickly into her stride, sharing a second-wicket stand of 46 with Grace Scrivens (16) before Scrivens holed out to Arlott off the impressive Phoebe Brett.
Ash Gardner struck two quick boundaries before falling to Megan Schutt via a stunning catch in the deep by Ailsa Lister and the Rockets threatened to implode when Sciver-Brunt chipped to extra cover off Hannah Baker immediately after bringing up her fifty and Brett dismissed Heather Graham and Ellie Threlkeld in the space of four deliveries, the young left-arm spinner finishing with figures of 3-19 as the hosts slipped to 109-6.
Alana King made a crucial nine to settle the nerves a little and when she edged behind off Schutt (2-24), courtesy of a superb catch from Amy Jones, it was left to Jodi Grewcock to hit the winning boundary with three balls to spare, securing a first home win of the season for the Rockets.
Earlier, Emma Lamb’s second half-century of the competition had steered the Phoenix to 123-6, the England opener batting through the innings to finish unbeaten on 56 from 42.
Sciver-Brunt, the Meerkat Match Hero, said: “I would have liked to be there at the end and made it a bit calmer for everybody but it wasn’t to be. In the three games I have made runs that’s not been the case, so that’s something to think about in future.
“As a batting group, we’ve always said if we can get ahead of the game, try and stay ahead of the game. That was the tempo I wanted to go at. Getting out at that point, had we not been ahead of the game as we were, it probably would have been even more stressful.
“It’s always nice to win at your home ground in front of your home fans and we haven’t been able to do that until today. The wicket is quite specific, it’s quite slow, and we probably didn’t adapt to that as quickly as we wanted to.”
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 Thursday?
Southern Brave face Welsh Fire at the Utilita Bowl in Southampton, with 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.
