Phoenix break records in 10-run victory
Birmingham Phoenix posted 214 for four at Edgbaston, the second-highest total in Hundred history, before holding off Trent Rockets by 10 runs in a match that produced a tournament-record 29 sixes and the first 400-plus aggregate in the competition.
Explosive start sets platform
Joe Clarke and Will Smeed laid the foundation with a 104-run opening stand from just 49 balls, Clarke falling for 68 off 33 and Smeed for 51 off 28. Rehan Ahmed then clubbed five sixes in a 25-ball 48 while Donovan Ferreira finished unbeaten on 22 from nine deliveries as the pair added 63 in 22 balls for the third wicket.
Rockets responded positively through Finn Allen and Ben Duckett, who put on 65 in 29 balls before departing for 43 and 49 respectively. Tom Banton kept the chase alive with a 26-ball fifty en route to 67 from 32, but Scott Currie removed him at the death with 29 required from the final seven balls.
Calvin Harrison’s 2 for 27 stood out as the only economical bowling performance on a night that delivered the sixth 200-plus total of the tournament and ended a run of low scores that had seen the previous highest stand at just 144. The result also eased pitch concerns after Phoenix’s women were bowled out for 64 earlier in the day.