Words by Jon Culley, ECB Reporters Network

Defending champions Trent Rockets kicked off their Men’s Hundred campaign with a six-run victory over 2021 champions Southern Brave in a low-scoring contest at Trent Bridge, Daniel Sams and Lewis Gregory taking three wickets each.

Sam Hain’s 63 off 39 balls rescued the Rockets from 54 for five with support from Imad Wasim - a last-minute substitute after Rashid Khan’s 11th hour withdrawal - but with Chris Jordan's three for 18 the stand-out performance in a solid bowling display, 133 from 100 looked below par.

Yet, on a slow pitch was offering the bowlers some help, it was too much for Brave, who were 41 without loss from 37 balls but lost five wickets for 32 in the next 28, a position from which they never recovered, despite some late heroics with the bat from Jordan, bowled out for 127 from 99 balls.

Asked to bat first, Rockets lost their top three batters for 25 inside the powerplay. Alex Hales miscued Craig Overton to mid-wicket and Dawid Malan sent up a steepler off the same bowler that Vince had plenty of time to get under. In between, George Garton produced a beauty to bowl Tom Kohler-Cadmore.

Neither Colin Munro nor Lewis Gregory fared any better at imposing themselves, the former skying one from Tymal Mills that was comfortably caught at mid-off, with skipper Gregory hit squarely in front by Jordan to perish for two as Rockets reached the 50-ball mark at a miserable 54 for five.  Scoring chances were generally scarce as the Brave attack kept their discipline, backed up for the most part by some excellent fielding.  

Hain at last gave a subdued home crowd some excitement when Overton returned for his final set to be hit for three boundaries in a row, the middle one a falling-over scoop that carried over the rope and he and Imad were able to put together something of a recovery.

They added 78 in 49 balls - 48 of them in the last 25 - before both fell in a dramatic finale to the innings that saw Jordan run out Hain then bowl Imad  and Matt Carter with his next two deliveries before Luke Wood survived the hat-trick ball.

The priority for Brave in the chase would have been to lose no early wickets and though they were merely level with Rockets for runs after their opening 25, the difference was that the wickets fallen space on the scoreboard still showed zero.

Things looked much less comfortable at halfway. Devon Conway’s top edge off Gregory pinged off his helmet to point, then Imad entered the attack with two wickets in eight balls. His first delivery did for Vince, stumped going down the pitch to one that spun away, before Finn Allen, who had looked the man most likely to carry Brave home, holed out to long-on, leaving Brave 51 for three from 48 balls.

As panic set in, Garton skewed Matt Carter to short fine leg and Tim David, looking to ease the pressure, picked out Hales at long-on, before another slightly freakish delivery saw James Fuller caught behind off glove and pad to leave Brave six down for 89, needing 45 from 22 balls.

Leus du Plooy was caught behind in a scoop attempt, Jordan pulled Wood for six, was dropped at short third on 16 - a gallant one-handed effort by sub fielder John Turner - but was yorked by Daniel Sams for 22 off 11 with nine needed from three before Overton was run out and Mills leg before.

Brave’s Chris Jordan, whose three for 18 was one of the stand-out bowling performances on the night, said:

“In short format cricket, there are always phases of the game where you feel you could have done a little bit better but for our first outing in the competition, especially in the field, I felt it was a really good one. It came down to the last over and we were only one partnership away from winning the match ourselves.

“The boys stuck to their plans, focussed on their execution, but we didn’t find a way to break that partnership between Hain and Imad, which allowed them to get away from us a little bit. But at the beginning of the night, we would have taken chasing 134 to win on this ground.

“I thought they bowled really well but one of the big differences in comparison to us was the ball. The one we used came back off the boundary boards with a chip and it stopped swinging, while the one they had kept swinging for longer and made it more difficult for our batters.”