Birmingham Phoenix (BPH) moved to the top of the points table after a 16-run victory over Trent Rockets (TRT) in Nottingham. Liam Livingstone and Miles Hammond shone with the bat for the visitors, while young pacers Pat Brown and Dillon Pennington picked up five wickets between them.
Trent Rockets, who decided to bowl first after winning the toss, included the returning Marchant de Lange in place of Timm van der Gugten in the playing eleven. Meanwhile, Birmingham Phoenix handed a debut for Pennington, and Chris Cooke replaced Moeen Ali.
The Birmingham Phoenix opening pair – Will Smeed and Finn Allen – started brightly. Smeed, the in-form batsman, scored three consecutive fours, while Allen, too, found the rope. But the 19-year-old perished for 18 after Steven Mullaney took an excellent catch inside the 30-yard circle. Stand-in captain Livingstone came to the crease at 24/1.
Allen and Livingstone dealt in singles early in their partnership. In Rashid Khan’s second set of five, Livingstone hit a six and a four. De Lange, too, was at the receiving end in his opening set. At the end of 40 balls, the scorecard read 65/1.
Spinners Samit Patel and Matthew Carter kept things tight with a few dot balls. However, Livingstone and Allen smashed a six each in Carter’s third set. De Lange returned and grabbed Allen’s wicket. He fell for 29. Livingstone, too, departed soon. Mullaney took a relay catch to dismiss the 28-year-old, who brought up his half-century in the previous delivery.
Birmingham Phoenix found themselves in a bother when Sam Cook removed Chris Benjamin for 7. They went from 95/1 to 120/4. With 20 deliveries left in the innings, Hammond seemed determined to post a challenging total. He took the Afghanistan spinner to the cleaners and hit three fours off de Lange’s third set of five. They lost two more wickets towards the end but finished on 166. Hammond and Benny Howell stitched together 40 runs in 16 balls for the fifth wicket.
Trent Rockets didn’t make the greatest of starts to their run-chase. Pennington, in a 10-ball spell, claimed two wickets in four balls. Hales saw the ball crash onto the stumps after he attempted to go for a big shot. Meanwhile, Dawid Malan nicked the ball to the wicketkeeper.
D’Arcy Short was the third batsman to depart in the powerplay. He mistimed the ball to backward square leg, and Allen took a comfortable catch. Patel and Mullaney added 29 for the fourth wicket before Imran Tahir cleaned up the spinner for 16. Trent Rockets were 57/4 in 36 balls when Birmingham Phoenix took the strategic timeout.
Mullaney and Lewis Gregory kept the run-chase alive. They scored 11 runs off Livingstone and ten from Tom Helm’s second set of five. However, Tahir picked up the key wicket of Gregory and broke the 42-run stand, which put a bit of pressure on the Birmingham Phoenix bowlers.
The asking rate soared, with Trent Rockets needing 43 from 20 balls. They lost three wickets in the space of eight balls. It ended the home side’s chances of a victory, and they eventually fell short by 16 runs. Pat Brown completed his three-wicket haul, while Helm and Howell grabbed a wicket each.
BPH 166/6 in 100 balls (L Livingstone 50, M Hammond 38*; S Cook 2/32)
TRT 150/9 in 100 balls (S Mullaney 49; P Brown 3/27, D Pennington 2/11)
Player of the Match
Livingstone delivered the goods for Birmingham Phoenix in the absence of skipper Moeen. After losing Smeed, the Lancashire batsman took charge and maintained the tempo of scoring. He hammered sixes off Rashid and Carter and ensured the spinners didn’t make much impact. Though dismissed in the 66th ball, Livingstone laid a solid foundation for an excellent total.
Top Fantasy XI
P Brown (79 pts), S Mullaney (77 pts), D Pennington (76 pts), L Livingstone (68 pts), M Hammond (57 pts), S Cook (55 pts), I Tahir (54 pts), B Howell (51 pts), M Lange (49 pts), S Patel (48 pts), F Allen (45 pts)
Parameswaran Sankaranarayanan
Parameswaran Sankaranarayan is a sports enthusiast who has worked in print, website, and other digital platforms. He was part of the editorial team of first-ever Indian football-based website - IndianFootball.com (now defunct) - and passionately follows the latest happenings in world football. During his time as a journalist, he had the opportunity to interact with some of the iconic personalities in Indian sports and witness some memorable moments in Indian football.
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