With just three matches to go in the group stage of The Hundred 2022, Trent Rockets and Welsh Fire locked horns in match 29 and the latter tried to clinch their first win of the season for one last time. It was the Fire skipper Josh Cobb who won the toss and elected to field first hoping to chase down the total in a pitch that favours chasing.
Welsh Fire have been poor the whole season and their last outing for the season was no different as they lacked a quality bowling attack. Things were too easy for Dawid Malan and Alex Hales, who had a fiery start to the Rockets as they amassed 89 runs for the opening wicket. The Fire bowlers could not come up with variations and struggled to keep their nerves calm as their opponents kept piling runs quite easily.
Daniel Sams’ fourteen-ball 31 pushed the team’s total past 172 and they managed to lose only four wickets at the end of the first innings mostly dominated by the Rockets. Welsh Fire openers Joe Clarke and Tom Banton never fired this season and the duo emulated the same in the last outing as they perished in quick succession.
It has all got to do with the mindset as the Rockets’ pacers kept hitting hard at the batters to put them in a loop. Matt Critchley was the guy, once again, who held the innings together and kept fighting at the one end while he kept losing partners at the other. The South African spinner Tabraiz Shamsi produced a stellar spell as he conceded only twelve runs off the twenty balls that he bowled.
The Fire team lacked all qualities to win the match sparing Matt Critchley’s batting prowess that he possessed. It was all over for the team that was desperate to clinch their first-ever win in their last outing as the Fire lost their eighth match too. Trent Rockets qualified for the next round after defeating Welsh Fire by 29 runs.
Here are some of the tweets that we found interesting:
Never mind 172. The Welsh Fire would struggle to make 72…#TheHundred
— Brian Harris (@harrisimo) August 29, 2022
Dawid Malan In #TheHundred –
8 Matches
358 Runs
AVG – 59.66
SR – 172.11
4 50s
Highest Scorer Of The #TheHundred pic.twitter.com/LIte4tJGc9— Pratik (@122mlongsix) August 30, 2022
Cracking day out at the cricket. Massive thanks to @dmalan29 for the hat. He was a little overwhelmed at the time but I assure you he's not shut up about it! Up the Rockets!!#TrentRockets #TheHundred pic.twitter.com/goXxNQ6V8P
— matt (@themattelrick) August 29, 2022
#TheHundred Welsh Fire to be relegated and replaced by West Country Giants @thehundred
— Lord Bailey (@choclab123) August 29, 2022
Great performance by the Trent Rockets and they secure their place in the playoffs! 🚀 #thehundred #trentrockets
— Adam Taylor Photography (@AdamT1991) August 29, 2022
#cricket #TheHundred 100% record for Welsh Fire Men this season – played eight, lost eight. No one can accuse them of inconsistency.
— Thomas Sutcliffe (@aspitweets) August 29, 2022
Get in Trent Rockets cracking performance through job done🏏👏🔥💪🟡#TheHundred #TrentRockets
— 🥊 (@NFFCRED) August 29, 2022
Trent Rockets beat Welsh Fire by 29 runs to qualify for the playoffs. Fire finish with no wins from 8 games. #TheHundred #cricket
— Scott Rose (@srose93) August 29, 2022
Good to see the Welsh Fire lot in good spirits on the bench after the game having just gone 0-8. #thehundred
— Alex W (@AWas29) August 29, 2022
Are #WelshFire the worst team in recent professional sports history? The closest I can think of is the 2017 Cleveland Browns and even they had some close games. #TheHundred
— ToneJack (@AntJack81) August 29, 2022
