After defeats in their first two games, Trent Rockets got their campaign up and running with an impressive all-round display at Lord’s, shaped around Nat Sciver Brunt’s ninth career half-century in The Hundred and her second in this year’s tournament.
Spirit came into the match with three wins from three, but they were immediately on the back foot as Rockets’ openers Bryony Smith and Nat Wraith blazed away, adding 62 in just 36 balls – combining for nine fours and two sixes – before both fell in quick succession to the canny medium pace of Eva Gray.
Sciver-Brunt and Ash Gardner then added 60 in 42 balls to maintain the momentum, and despite Issy Wong coming back brilliantly in her final two sets and Sarah Glenn bowling with great class to concede just 20 runs, the Rockets were always ahead of the game.
Gray ended up with four wickets – a career-best in the tournament – but Sciver-Brunt finished things in style with her fourth six of the tournament, pumped over long-on from the final ball of the innings to bring up her fifty from just 29 balls.
In reply the Spirit never got going, losing wickets at regular intervals, and when the in-form Australian superstar Grace Harris holed out to deep midwicket for just 8 to give the miserly left-armer Kristie Gordon the first of her four wickets, their chase fizzled out.
Some spirited hitting from Charli Knott (33 from 25) put some gloss on the final score, but the contest had long been settled by then.
Gardner’s brilliance was again fully on show; two more wickets for the Aussie allrounder, who bowled beautifully in the middle overs in tandem with her compatriot Alana King, gave further notice that if the Rockets’ big players can run into form together, they will still, despite their slow start, take some stopping this year.
Meerkat Match Hero, Sciver-Brunt said: “It feels brilliant [to get that first win of the tournament], we were all really excited to play at Lord’s, what a ground. And then to get some points on the board – we feel like we’ve done well in patches [in the first two games] but it was really good to put it all together today. Ash Gardner is massively important to us, she’s our key allrounder and she’s really leading us, and putting her foot on it.”
Brief scores:
Trent Rockets Women 149 for 6 in 100 balls (Bryoni Smith 42, Natasha Wraith 42, Nat Sciver-Brunt 51*, Ashleigh Gardner 25; Issy Wong 1-26, Eva Gray 4-19, Sara Glenn 1-20) beat London Spirit Women 116 in 95 balls (Kira Chathli 19, Cordelia Grifith 20, Charli Knott 33; Cassidy McCarthy 1-18, Ashleigh Garner 2-14, Alana King 1-30, Kristie Gordon 4-15, Heather Graham 2-28) by 33 runs
[Cricinfo]
