Birmingham Phoenix moved again into the highest three of the Hundred with an essential win at Edgbaston, knocking Trent Rockets out of this 12 months’s competitors within the course of.
Tim Southee took 5 wickets to limit Rockets to 118 earlier than Liam Livingstone and Jacob Bethell ) helped Phoenix right into a play-in spot with a cautious pursuit.
Birmingham Phoenix gained the toss and elected to bowl, which proved to be an excellent choice from Moeen Ali as his tempo assault placed on a swing bowling show initially of the primary innings.
The damaging quartet of Tom Banton, Alex Hales, Joe Root and Rovman Powell had been dismissed within the first 30 overs as Rockets fell behind 22-4.
Tom Alsop made his first hundred look as he and Pakistan worldwide Imad Wasim re-established a 50-run partnership for the guests earlier than Wasim was dismissed for operating the ball No. 29 retired and was changed by Chris Inexperienced.
The Australian all-rounder returned to the Rockets to switch the injured Rashid Khan, however he performed simply 5 balls earlier than being changed by Adam Milne, who deservedly took a wicket.
Alsop reached his half-century earlier than being dismissed by the sensible Southee, who completed with 5-12 and briefly thought he had scored a hat-trick, solely to have it overturned by an LBW name.
Trent Rockets helped Phoenix win with 119 factors, and Ben Duckett received off to a great begin with 30 of his 16 factors earlier than the Rockets got here again at them. Luke Wooden set the stage for Birmingham’s quick begin with successive passes from Duckett and Jamie Smith.
Moeen Ali and Livingstone steadied the ship for some time earlier than speedy John Turner (2-17) dismissed skipper Moeen and Dan Mousley Mousley).
The guests realized this was their probability to use strain within the chase they usually started to restrict Phoenix’s scoring probabilities earlier than Luke Wooden launched the strain with a no-ball free-kick and Bethell slotted the ball into the stands for the house aspect. There’s some respiration room right here to assist.
Bethell (38 off 29) and Livingston (30 off 32) then put collectively a half-century partnership to take Phoenix residence with seven balls left to chase them.
Every staff has one sport remaining, and the end result leaves three groups with an opportunity to advance to the knockout levels alongside the Oval Invincibles: Phoenix, Southern Courageous and Northern Superchargers. Defeat for Trent Rockets meant that for the likes of London Spirit, Manchester Originals and Wells Flames, their match was over.
Man of the Match – Tim Southee
“It was a fairly good efficiency. I believed the bowlers assessed the situations properly after which the best way the batsmen dealt with it on the finish, Bethell and Livingstone sorted issues out and picked good choices. So. , I believed it was an excellent all-round efficiency.
“I believe we have completed rather well over the previous couple of video games and must get to know one another higher. Clearly Adam Milne and I’ve performed loads of cricket collectively, however for the opposite guys to have that have it is Nice to play just a few video games with.
“We tailored to the situations as rapidly as doable which helped us and the bottom gave us one thing and we tried to benefit from it as a lot as doable.”
What to do subsequent?
The Hundred will proceed on Tuesday, August 13 with one other doubleheader northern supercharger and spirit of london.
You possibly can watch the ladies’s match on Sky Sports activities Major Occasion and Sky Sports activities Cricket from 2.30pm, with the primary match beginning at 3pm, and the lads’s match on Sky Sports activities Cricket from 6pm.
Sky Sports activities+ has formally launched and can be built-in into Sky TV, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports activities app, permitting Sky Sports activities prospects to observe greater than 50% of stay sports activities at no cost this 12 months. Study extra right here.