Jonny Bairstow edged out his long-time teammate Joe Root in the battle of the England legends as Welsh Fire beat Trent Rockets in a thrilling encounter at a raucous Trent Bridge in The Hundred. Jonny Bairstow was the most fluent of all the batters on show, his 45-ball 55 proving to be the standout knock of a game in which the spinners held sway.
Jonny Bairstow contest with Root, who bowled a series of round-arm off-breaks from around the wicket, going for just 19 runs from his 20-ball quota, was one of numerous subplots as Fire fought for every run they could scavenge on a pitch taking appreciable spin.
Pitch and Toss
The Trent Bridge surface tends to assist batters and the seamers enjoy the early movement to get out of the deck. The bounce will help the bowlers and the batters will enjoy the ball coming onto the bat. Both teams will prefer to defend at this venue.
Trent Rockets skipper Lewis Gregory won the toss and chose to bowl with no changes in the Playing XI. Welsh Fire skipper Tom Abell batting first also made no changes in the Playing XI.
Jonny Bairstow the star as Welsh fire scores 129 for 6 in 100 balls
A resilient 50 by Jonny Bairstow was the catalyst for the Welsh Fire, as they registered their second win of the Hundred. The Fire eclipsed the Rockets by 4 runs in a low scoring thriller, after the Fire had put on 129 for 6 in the first innings. On a used pitch and put in to bat first, the Fire got off to a terrible start with Luke Wells and Joe Clarke heading back to the sheds in the Powerplay.
Tom Abell provided much needed impetus to the innings with Bairstow as they notched up a 90-run partnership, rotating the strike to keep the scoreboard ticking. The Fire managed to clear the ropes only twice in their innings but Bairstow did manage to find the occasional boundary to insert the pressure back onto the Rockets.
With Fire asked to bat first, Jonny Bairstow was the most fluent of all the batters on show, his 45-ball 55 proving to be the standout knock of a game in which the spinners held sway. His contest with Root, who bowled a series of round-arm off-breaks from around the wicket, going for just 19 runs from his 20-ball quota, was one of numerous subplots as Fire fought for every run they could scavenge on a pitch taking appreciable spin.
Trent Rockets the favorites to win botch up the chase with 4 runs short
With 130 to chase down, Tom Banton and Alex Hales started aggressively against the bowlers with the latter smashing two sixes over deep mid-wicket. However, a googly by Mason Crane saw the end of Banton, which had turned enough for it to catch the top edge as he played the reverse sweep. Hales tried to pull a short delivery which skidded on, and he then heard the death rattle of the stumps behind him.
An unfortunate run out of Joe Root gave a whisker of hope to the Fire, which they took with both hands. Sam Hain did not find any rhythm during his innings which mounted the pressure at the other end. The run-out of Rashid Khan and the catch of Lewis Gregory who were looking in fine touch saw the game turn on a knife-edge.
Tim Payne picked up back-to-back wickets in the penultimate set giving Haris Rauf nine runs to defend. Rauf did so successfully, seasling the win for the Fire by 4 runs. Jonny Bairstow edged out his long-time teammate Joe Root in the battle of the England legends as Welsh Fire beat Trent Rockets in a thrilling encounter at a raucous Trent Bridge in The Hundred.
Rockets appeared to be favourites for most of the match until the final dramatic moments, when a series of brilliant outfield catches by Fire flipped the game in their favour. David Payne and Haris Rauf then delivered a nerveless final set to clinch the win by four runs.
The spectacular finale saw four wickets fall in the final 10 balls, with Rashid Khan – the first of the four to fall – becoming the second Rockets batter to be run out after Root had earlier been dismissed in slapstick fashion for 17, via a brilliant throw from Joe Clarke at backward point. Sam Hain was involved in both mix-ups, and although he remained unbeaten at the death, his 26-ball 22 was not enough to get the job done.
Rockets looked to be in control. A win would have taken them top of the table; instead, due to that extraordinary comeback, Fire have roared back into the mix.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Meerkat Player of the Match Jonny Bairstow for his half century said :
“We’ve had a couple of close ones, it’s that kind of competition, and it’s bringing out different qualities in different players, especially the way our bowlers closed the game out, and the way that Abes [Tom Abell] captained – being brave at times when he needed to be.
“In the field if you can get two run outs, it’s always pretty handy. It’s two wickets that the bowlers don’t have to get, and the fielding was exemplary from all the boys. We’ve had a couple of defeats but nobody’s got too downbeat, everyone’s stayed pretty level, and we’ve spoken about going out and relishing he challenge.”
On his contest with his great friend, Root: “He bottled it didn’t he! He didn’t even chuck one up! I said to him before he came on, ‘It’s me or you here’ and next thing I see he’s bowling lower than Malinga!”
Welsh Fire have won in an incredible manner. They have won by only 4 runs. Hain tried hard but somehow his knock didn’t help his team’s cause. In this format, no matter what the deck is you can’t be scoring at less than a 100. The run-out of Rashid Khan also didn’t help. Earlier, Hales and Banton tried to give the Rockets a quick start but failed to.
But they had done enough to ensure the rate wasn’t out of hand. Then Root got run-out against the run of play. And that started the tough phase for the Rockets. Haris Rauf had 9 to defend in the last set and did superbly as he used his experience. Rockets had the chance to top the table but remain on two wins from 4 games. The Fire unit have two wins now as well.