Trent Rockets 160 for 6 (Duckett 75, Milne 2-25) beat London Spirit 159 for 9 (Brevis 39, Harrison 2-25)

In a battle between two sides who had lost their opening games, Trent Rockets brilliantly chased down London Spirit’s 159-9 – the highest chase at Trent Bridge in The Hundred – to win their opening game of the competition.

After the Rockets won the toss and bowled, four of Spirit’s top five got going, only Jonny Bairstow missing out. South African Lhuan-dre Pretorius hit a quickfire 24 and compatriot Dewald Brevis an innings-high 39, while Englishmen James Rew and skipper Liam Livingstone also chipped in. At 127 for 4 off 78, Spirit would have been eyeing 180 but excellent death bowling from the Rockets kept the total to something manageable.

Matt Henry, who has found bowling in The Hundred this season harder than in Tests, went for 29 off his 10 – after 48 from 15 against Phoenix on Friday – but spinners Calvin Harrison and Mitch Santner were excellent. So too were Lewis Gregory and Mohammad Amir.

When Spirit bowled, David Willey got the dangerous Finn Allen for a five-ball duck but Tom Banton was quickly into his stride, putting on 72 with Duckett in just 41 balls. Livingstone juggled his bowlers cleverly, bowling the impressive Willey out early, and AJ Tye made the breakthrough, having Banton caught at point. He then had Duckett well taken by James Coles and Jamie Overton followed up by dismissing Tim David as the Rockets’ chase appeared to stagnate.

Sam Billings reignited things, reverse-sweeping then sweeping Adam Zampa for sixes, before he slapped Adam Milne to Brevis on the point boundary. With 25 needed off the last 10, enter Craig Overton. He hit his first ball for six, and the same with his fourth from brother Jamie, before a couple of twos saw his side home with two balls to spare.

Craig Overton, who hit 20 off 6 to seal the win against his brother, said: “Jamie got me out last year so I had to get some payback! I was just trying to get it into the air with the wind. We wanted to make sure we were in with a chance towards the end and Dad will be happy with the way we played it!”