Trent Rockets men, champions of the last season’s Hundred competition, are currently sitting in the middle of the points table with a win, a loss and a no-result game. They have accrued 3 points from as many games, with the only victory coming in the season opener last week.
In their first game of the season on Tuesday 1 Aug, the Rockets bat first and posted 133-8 on the board, largely courtesy of a fantastic knock from Sam Hain (63). Hain produced a scintillating display, after a top-order collapse from Alex Hales (9), Dawid Malan (11), Tom Kohler-Cadmore (4) and Colin Munro (10). Imad Wasim (26) stood strong with Sam to put up a decent first season total on the board.
The bowling group were also impressive with their efforts to bundle out the Southern Brave team for 127, keeping them just 6 runs short of the target. The all-rounders were on show, with Daniel Sams and Lewis Gregory picking up three wickets each and Imad Wasim getting two.
In the second game played on Wednesday afternoon (actually supposedly their third thanks to a no result on Saturday at Birmingham Phoenix) against Northern Superchargers, Rockets’ pacer Luke Wood abolished the top three opposition batters. While Adam Hose and Saif Zaib were looking settled on the pitch, Joe Root got rid of both of them. It just went downhill thereafter with David Wiese’s 54 off just 25, smoking to all parts of the ground. At the other end, he got good support from Brydon Carse (33) helping the Superchargers post 142-5.
In response, few of the Rockets batters started well, but couldn’t convert their starts into a big knock. The experience of Hales (29), Malan (6), Munro (15), Cadmore (15) and Root (4) could not come in handy for the home team.
While the chase got tougher, Sam Hain (20) and Daniel Sams (27) pushed hard to keep the team in the hunt, but gave away their wickets to Reece Topley in the end. Ultimately, the Rockets lost the game by 3 runs.
In The Hundred Women’s tournament, Trent Rockets are trailing down at the bottom of the table with two losses from the three games, with the remaining match being a wash-out. The chances of them getting a playoff spot are getting slim.
Smriti Mandhana (55) gave a blistering start to Southern Brave last week along with Danielle Wyatt (27). Bryony Smith picked up two, while Naomi Dattani, Alana King and Kirstie Gordon picked up one wicket each restricting the opposition to 157-6.
In reply, captain Nat Sciver-Brunt (49) along with Harmanpreet (22) put up a valiant effort. However, others couldn’t get going and the Rockets lost the game by 27 runs.
In the third game (after a second match washout), the bowlers were decent and could only stop the Superchargers for 134-4.
Thereafter, the batters failed terribly, to be precise. Only Bryony Smith got hold of the game, and scored a whopping 70 (44), but with no support coming from the other end, her efforts went in vain. As a result, The Rockets lost by 9 runs and are yet to get off the mark in the tournament.
Both the Men and Women’s teams will have to step up in their games ahead and pray for no wash-out games to stay alive in the competition.
Next up for the Rockets is a trip to Lords on Saturday where both men and women’s teams will play London Spirit.
*Article provided by Harshit Rathi (Cricket Correspondent).
*Main image @TrentBridge Bryony Smith hasn’t yet been able to stop the Rockets rot.
