Trent Rockets cruise to a comfortable win over Birmingham Phoenix at Edgbaston, with Lockie Ferguson and Tom Banton in key roles for the visitors; watch The 100 live on Sky Sports until August 31.
Pictured: Trent Rockets' Tom Banton in action during the Hundred Men's match at Edgbaston, Birmingham
Trent Rockets kicked off their Men's Hundred campaign with an easy win over Birmingham Phoenix at Edgbaston on Friday night.
The Phoenix ended their innings on 122-6, which proved to be insufficient and David Willey's Rockets cruised to a comfortable six-wicket victory thanks to excellent bowling from Lockie Ferguson (3-20) and a chase led by Tom Banton (42 off 29).
- Scoreboard: Birmingham Phoenix vs Trent Rockets
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Joe Root was dropped in his first Hundred match for the Trent Rockets by his England coach Tim Southee!
Meerkat match hero Lockie Ferguson said: “It was a great night. Dave and I got off to a good start. The boys bowled brilliantly and gave the batsmen enough balls to fight for. It was nice to get the competition off to a good start.”
“The short boundary on the leg side was certainly scary but the boys did well in the shifts and hit the yorker well. We got some early wickets which helped us a lot in the middle overs.”
Tasked with getting the ball into play first, the Rockets' offense quickly picked up the pace, taking out Phoenix's top three players — Ben Duquette, Will Smed and Aneurin Donald — to leave the home team with a 24-3 lead after a 25-goal power play.
Sam Cooke's fine run out of Jacob Bethell left the Phoenix reeling, but the brave pair of Liam Livingstone (39) and Joe Clarke (29) led the recovery. Livingstone played the captain's knock, hitting three sixes in 30 balls while Clarke struggled to get going; a brilliant set from Ferguson dismissed both.
Despite the Rockets' tense battle for the ball, a pair of late shots from Dan Moseley and Benny Howell brought Phoenix within a decent distance.
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Sam Cooke Fires Jacob Bethell For 'Unbelievable' Fielding
In reply, although Tim Southee (2-36) got Joe Root into the starting line-up, the Rockets began to make a strong play against the three New Zealand quicks. Banton and Rehan Ahmed (25 off 16) hit some powerful shots to quickly reduce the total to below run-a-ball.
Although Benny Howell (2-25), the pick of the Phoenix bowlers, dismissed Ahmed and Banton, Max Holden (22 off 13) was confident
Sourse: skysports.com
