The Hundred has entered the stage where wins are almost as important as the performance. Trent Rockets were in danger of being cut adrift of the chasing pack, and they knew a win against London Spirit would be the order of the day. They did just that with their most complete performance of the season, winning by 31 runs.
Rockets could not have asked for a better time for their top order to fire as Grace Scrivens made a well-judged 55, to help the East Midlands-based side charge to their highest team total of 158 for five. They followed that with a tight bowling performance as Ash Gardner and Alana King took three wickets each to wrap up a win that keeps Rockets in the hunt for a top-three finish.
The home side knew they would have to put in an all-round performance against a Spirit side that included world-class batters with the potential to chase down a big total on a batter-friendly ground.
An opening partnership of 74 for the Rockets, between Bryony Smith and Scrivens gave the Trent Bridge side the base to go big. Smith was unfortunate to be run out as Scrivens straight drive rebounded onto the stumps off the hand of Charlie Dean.
The run-scoring didn’t slow as Nat Sciver-Brunt, the Rockets’ captain, helped add 42 for the second wicket. She looked in good touch, racing to 21 from her first 11 balls only to give Charlie Dean the easiest of catches of Deepti Sharma’s bowling. Scrivens fell six balls later, having scored her first fifty in the Hundred, finishing with 55 from 43 deliveries, with nine fours.
It could have led to a change in momentum for the Rockets, as their set batters were dismissed quickly. Still, Heather Graham continued her fine form with the bat, smashing 22 from 12 balls and an enterprising innings of seven from four balls at the death from King helped the Rockets pass 150; it would have been eight if she hadn’t slipped and face-planted the floor when turning for a second off the final ball of the innings.
Early wickets would be crucial and it was Gardener who would get the double breakthrough. The Spirit were about to get out of the powerplay with no wickets lost, only for the Australian allrounder to strike twice in two balls, firstly bowling the dangerous Georgia Redmayne for three and then having Cordelia Griffith stumped by Nat Wraith.
Spirit still had Meg Lanning and Heather Knight to come. Lanning may have retired from international cricket, but there is still that hunger to score runs, and she was starting to get going when she was caught by Kirstie Gordon at mid-on for 23, to give King her first wicket of the day.
It looked dicey for the visitors as they reached the halfway stage of their innings, needing nearly two runs a ball and that task soon became more challenging as the returning Gardner had the big-hitting Dani Gibson lbw for 13. Much would rely on the experienced pair of Knight and Sharma, but they could only add 14 for the fifth wicket before Knight top-edged King to Smith for 29.
The Rockets lost Scrivens in the field, as attempting to catch Sharma off the bowling of Gordon she was struck in the face. Her teammates carried on professionally, preventing the London Spirit from getting back into the game. Sharma and Dean added 27 for the sixth wicket, but by the time Dean was out trying to clear Katie George on the boundary, to give King her third wicket of the day and leave her with figures of three for 23, the game was all but over.
This win closes the gap between the two sides to one point, but both teams have plenty of work to do to reach the competition’s knockout stages.
