Trent Rockets crashed to a crushing 26-run loss to Oval Invincibles in the Hundred 2025 final at Lord’s, London last night. While it was joy for the Oval franchise as they made it a hat-trick of titles in Hundred and showed they are head and shoulders over the other teams, there was a lot to ponder for Trent Rockets. Yes, they had to deal with last minute injuries and injuries throughout the tournament and did well to reach the finals. But they were found wanting in the final. We will try and ascertain 3 reasons why they lost the final.
Inability to break Will Jacks-Jordan Cox partnership hurts Trent Rockets.
After losing the toss, Trent Rockets took to the field and wanted early wickets to stop this dangerous Oval Invincibles team. They did get one relatively early inside the powerplay as Tawanda Muyeye was dismissed for 15 off 10 balls at the score of 31. But they couldn’t make more inroads and allowed the partnership of Will Jacks and Jordan Cox to grow.
Will Jacks was in full flow and was unstoppable on the big day and was given great company by the red hot Jordan Cox who was in tremendous form. The partnership which yielded 87 runs came off 55 balls and took the game away from Trent Rockets. It seemed there was no planning by the Rockets bowlers as they bowled some freebies which helped both the batters. It meant Oval had the platform with wickets in hand to go big at the backend. Jacks made 72 off 41 balls while Cox made 40 off 28 balls.
The Trent Rockets did peg things back a bit towards the backend against the much vaunted Oval batting line-up, but the score was already 168 which was a formidable score on the big day at Lord’s and it allowed Oval to defend the score easily. If Rockets had managed to take regular wickets, they might have been chasing a lesser score and the result would have been different, but that was not to be for the second-placed team.
Losing 3 wickets for 1 run in 5 balls hurts Trent Rockets dear.
In the chase of 169, it was important that Trent Rockets get off to a solid start and lay the platform for the rest of the batters to follow. Tom Banton and Joe Root came out to open the batting and to their credit played out the powerplay with no damage done. They put on 36 for the first wicket but took 31 balls which meant the required rate climbed up.
The introduction of Nathan Sowter changed things as he turned the game on its head in a matter of 5 balls. He first got rid of Joe Root for 10 via a brilliant catch at long-on by Will Jacks. Then Rehan Ahmed came in and was cleaned up by Sowter for a silver duck as he took two wickets in one set. He decided to bowl the next set and got rid of the more settled Tom Banton for 23 off 21 balls as the Rockets went from 36/0 in 31 balls to 37/3 in 37 balls. The Rockets never really recovered from this jolt.
The required rate kept climbing as wickets were lost at regular intervals. Yes, Marcus Stoinis fought a lonely valiant attempt and scored half-century in the end as he was dismissed off the final ball of the game for 64. But it made no difference to the result of the match. While the Rockets did not lose early wickets in powerplay, but losing 3 in a chase of such magnitude derailed the momentum and changed everything of this match. Losing by 26 runs is a big margin in Hundred especially in a final.
Poor Performance of Joe Root & Rehan Ahmed Hurts Trent Rockets Dear.
Trent Rockets needed to bring their A-game and also for their key star players to shine on the big day. While some performed, the others flattered to deceive. Two players who failed and it hurt their team a lot were Joe Root and Rehan Ahmed. We had said ahead of the finals that Root and Rehan will be key players for Rockets to have any chance of upstaging Oval Invincibles. But both of them had an off-day at the wrong time.
Rehan Ahmed did not have a great day with the ball first up as he picked up a solitary wicket and gave away 28 runs in 15 balls. Then coming to bat at Number 3, Rehan fell for a silver duck to Sowter to put his team in further trouble in the chase from which they never recovered. We know Joe Root exhibits calmness and performs under pressure. Much was expected from the senior player in this big chase, but he did not get going and failed to hit a single boundary. He eventually fell for 10 off 13 balls which is below par according to the standards he has set.
The failure of these two players meant the pressure increased on others to perform even more and they couldn’t because to defeat Oval, you need everyone to perform as a collective unit. It was anything but that as apart from Marcus Stoinis who had a decent day at Lord’s, others flattered to deceive and had a day to forget. They were handicapped with last minute injuries no doubt but that is no excuse for their loss against the reigning champions.
So, these were the three reasons for Trent Rockets loss in the big final against Oval Invincibles as Hundred 2025 came to a great end last night at the Mecca of Cricket Lord’s, London. International cricket will return to England as they host South Africa soon from 2nd September 2025 in 3 ODIS and 3 T20Is.
Also Read: Hundred 2025: Rehan Ahmed’s All-Round Show Helps Trent Rockets Win A Thriller.