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Captain Lewis Gregory took Trent Rockets to an incredible victory over the dominant Manchester Originals by two wickets with just two balls to spare in the men's Hundred final at Lord's. English fast bowler Sam Cook picked up four wickets while giving up just 18 runs as the Rockets held Manchester to 120-9 on a slow pitch. Ashton Turner from Australia scored 26 runs for the Originals and was the top scorer of the innings.
The Trent-based team had a slow start to the second innings as they lost Alex Hales early. Then Dawid Malan and Tom Kohler-Cadmore stabilised the innings with a key 29-run partnership. But soon both batters were sent back to the pavilion along with Samit Patel. Then, Colin Munro walked out to bat and changed the momentum of the game with a quick-fire 16 in seven balls with two fours and one six.
The Rocket kept edging closer to target as they needed 11 to win from the last five balls which were bowled by England fast bowler Richard Gleeson. Gregory launched Gleeson over mid-off the boundary for six and then flicked away a full toss for four and then hit the winning runs as he ended the final scoring 17 in six balls.
Trent Rockets coach Andy Flower expressed elation with his team’s performance throughout the tournament. He said, “Very proud of this team. This was quite a difficult pitch, both teams' character shone through. I was happy Gregory was on strike at the end, he is quite a cool customer. (On Rashid and Shamsi) Both those guys are world-class bowlers, brilliant for any franchise. But Carter is a good bowler, he's smart and skilful.”
He then praised Sam Cook for his Player of the Match performance by saying, “He held his own tonight. (On Sam Cook) He's not a 90mph bowler, but very smart and nails his yorkers. Malan and Munro have been outstanding this year, Malan’s great form and very confident. Quite pleasing it was a team effort. A strong argument to have Malan to open in Australia on good wickets.”