Birmingham Phoenix thrashed by Trent RocketsImage Credit source: Getty Images
The women’s competition of England’s franchise league ‘The Hundred’ has started with the dominance of the bowlers. In 2 out of the first 4 matches of this league, the teams collapsed even before 100 runs. A day after London Spirit were all out for just 80 runs, the situation was even worse for Birmingham Phoenix. Birmingham, captained by Australian legend Ellis Perry, was all out for just 60 runs in its first match of the season against Trent Rockets and lost by 9 wickets.
In this match played at Edgbaston Cricket Ground, Birmingham on Friday 24th July, host Phoenix batted first but no one could have imagined the fate of their batting. As soon as Birmingham Phoenix’s innings started, wickets started falling and the team lost 6 wickets for just 15 runs. Then the 7th wicket also fell for 27 runs and the team was not looking to score even 50 runs.
At such a time, team captain Alice Parry maintained the lead from one end and kept the score moving forward. When Parry was out as the last batsman on the 95th ball of the innings, the team’s score was 64 runs. He scored the maximum of 39 runs in 33 balls. She was the only batsman who touched double figures. Only 2 fours were hit in this innings and both came off Parry’s bat. The situation was such that 5 batsmen of Birmingham could not even open their account.
Three bowlers from Trent Rockets played the biggest role in making Perry’s team suffer – Samantha Bates, Katie Levick and Georgia Alvis. Together, these three bowled a total of 60 balls and took 7 wickets while giving only 31 runs. Bates took the maximum of 3 wickets for just 10 runs in 20 balls, while Elvis also took 3 wickets for 13 runs. Levik took only 1 wicket but spent only 8 runs in 20 balls. Apart from these, Kim Garth also took 2 wickets for 5 runs in 15 balls. This target proved to be a modest one for Trent Rockets and they won in just 31 balls on the basis of opener Sophia Dunkley’s explosive unbeaten inning of 43 runs in 17 balls.
