The Hundred: Dawid Malan scores 88 as Trent Rockets emerge victorious over Northern Superchargers
The Hundred: Dawid Malan scores 88 as Trent Rockets emerge victorious over Northern Superchargers. Trent Rockets bagged an easy victory over Northern Superchargers in a group stage match of The Hundred. The cricket match was played at the Headingley Leeds on August 9 (Tuesday). Batsman Dawid Malan was excellent with his bat. He smashed an unbeaten 88 runs that took his team over the victory line.
Trent Rockets won the toss and chose to bowl first. The Superchargers had an unfortunate start. They lost both their openers Adam Lyth and Faf du Plessis due to the field restrictions of Trent Rockets. Both of them failed to even open their account.
Trent Rockets applied pressure on the Superchargers bowlers. They bagged wickets at regular intervals. Batsmen like Michael-Kyle Pepper, John Simpson, Dwayne Bravo, and Adam Hose tried but none of them managed to make a big score with the bat.
At one stage, it looked like the Superchargers would fail to cross the 130-run mark. However, an excellent display of batting from David Wiese and Roelof van der Merwe led the Superchargers to finish strongly with the bat. The pair scored 83 runs in 44 balls. The team scored 152 runs in the allotted 100 balls.
Chasing 153 to win, the Rockets batsmen Alex Hales and Dawid Malan completely thrashed the opponent’s bowling squad. Hales managed to add 43 off 27 balls. Malan brilliantly scored 88 runs. Kiwi batsman Colin Munro knocked 15 runs. Trent Rockets chased the target easily and won the match by seven wickets with six balls remaining. Malan was the player of the match for his excellent batting skills.
For Superchargers, Bravo, Ben Raine, and Adil Rashid took one wicket each. With a victory over the Superchargers, Trent Rockers have bagged victory in two matches in a row. They have placed themselves second on the points table. Meanwhile, Superchargers are in the fifth position on the points table.
“He [Malan] just seems to score and score and score without you really noticing. He hits the ball harder than you think,” Wood said.
The combination of Malan and Alex Hales, the former England opener, at the top of the order kept the opposition bowlers in sweats.
They smashed 86 runs together. The Northern Superchargers had no answers to that batting, despite boasting an experienced bowling line-up.
Such is the Rockets’ power that they didn’t need Joe Root, England’s greatest ever batter, to help them chase the target.
These performances are promising signs as Root leaves the competition after three games are over for England Test duty next week.
“Hales and Malan hit the ball in very different areas,” said Root. “We all know how dangerous Alex Hales can be and it’s great to see them both in this form.”
Rockets acquired punches in the bowling department, too.
South African Tabraiz Shamsi is in the second-best position in the world in T20. The number three rank has been bagged by Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan.