Men's Hundred 2026, WF-M vs TR-M 11th Match Match Report, July 29, 2026

Trent Rockets 126 for 1 (Duckett 52*) beat Welsh Fire 122 for 7 (Short 36, Santner 3-35) by nine wickets

Trent Rockets handed Welsh Fire a first defeat of the season in a one-sided affair at Sophia Gardens. The visitors chased down a below-par target of 123 with 28 balls to spare, Ben Duckett seeing the Rockets to victory with an unbeaten 52.

The start of the Rockets’ chase wasn’t fluent by any means, but the Fire bowlers were sloppy, giving away four free-hits in the powerplay and seven in total. Duckett faced the first four, only finding the boundary once, but he and Finn Allen still managed to move the visitors onto 42-0 after 25 balls with little cause for concern.

The explosive Allen began to accelerate, taking 17 runs off Sam Cook’s first five. He and Duckett cruised along against an uninspired Fire attack, taking the score to 75 before Allen fell lbw to fellow Kiwi Rachin Ravindra for 33.

Duckett, joined by Tom Banton, continued on his merry way, bringing up a second half-century in as many games, this time from 42 balls, as the Rockets made it two wins from three.

Hosts Fire had earlier ended their batting powerplay on 26-2, having been asked to bat first. They lost Phil Salt and Joe Root for 5 apiece to the seam of Matt Henry, the latter failing to connect with a ramp.

Going into the match Henry had been uncharacteristically expensive – conceding close to three-runs-per-ball in his opening two appearances against Birmingham Phoenix and London Spirit – but the experienced Kiwi was back to his best in Cardiff, taking 2-16 from his opening spell of 15 balls.

After reaching 59-2 at halfway, the Fire looked to push on, but proceeded to lose three wickets in the next 14 balls, including the set Matt Short for 36 from 26.

Jordan Cox countered by launching Mitchell Santner’s left-arm spin for three consecutive sixes, but perished going for a fourth, spectacularly caught on the cover boundary by a diving Allen.

Fire then limped to 122-7 with Asa Tribe and Chris Woakes failing to find the boundary off Mohammad Amir and Lewis Gregory in the closing stages of the innings. Their target would prove easily surpassable by Trent Rockets, who moved up to second in the table with their second win from three games.

Meerkat Match Hero, Duckett, said: “The bowlers were superb. Coming here, we spoke about adapting to the pitch as early as you can. They take massive credit for this win.”

On his innings, he added: “My aim was to try and get through the powerplay and then it might actually become easier. It’s made a lot easier when you’ve got Finn Allen at the other end whacking it.

“Four free-hits really help as well, but, to be honest, I really struggled to find rhythm throughout that whole innings. I’m pretty sure everyone saw that. Finn played beautifully and Bants came in and took all the pressure off me.”

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