Marchant de Lange claimed the first five-for of The Hundred and Dawid Malan and D’Arcy Short made unbeaten half-centuries as Trent Rockets eased to a comfortable victory over Southern Brave as a crowd just short of 13,000 enjoyed Trent Bridge’s first taste of the new competition.

“This is my first time playing here, and the local lads said it might be slow, so there was more pace in the pitch than I expected,” he said

“In general I had three plans for the batters, and tactically it worked, so I was happy with that.

“As we have seen over time, wicket takers in the shorter format are usually spinners, but there is a time for extra pace. I tried to keep it simple today and it came off.”

Malan’s 62 off 43 balls and Short’s 51 off 41 saw the Rockets knock off a modest target of 127 with nine wickets and 18 deliveries to spare after the powerful South African bowler had shown that raw pace can still be a potent weapon in short-format cricket, finishing with five for 20 from 20 deliveries. 

Ross Whiteley top-scored with 39 for the Brave, but with no other batter passing 21 their total always looked inadequate on a good surface.

Having chosen to bat first, Brave struggled to 56 for four at halfway, having lost James Vince for a duck to a superb Luke Wood yorker. 

Davies hit Lewis Gregory straight to extra cover and after off-spinner Joe Root had pinned them down by conceding only seven runs from 10 balls, Brave’s top order fell apart as De Lange dismissed three batters in the space of eight deliveries.  

Delroy Rawlins was caught at short cover and Colin de Grandhomme bowled round his legs in De Lange’s first set of five, the South African returning to have Conway caught behind. 

“Luckily before we came into this game, I have played against Colin a bit, so there was a plan for him,” de Lange said.

“It doesn’t always come off, but this game is designed for ups and downs. I needed to stick to my plans, and once you let go of the ball, the outcome is out of your control.

“I feel in general our bowling unit stuck to our plans and our captain led very well.”

When Root then bowled Liam Dawson, the Brave were in trouble at 71 for six from 65.

Whiteley fought back with sixes off Rashid Khan and Wood before twice driving the Afghanistan leg spinner for four down the ground. But De Lange returned to pick up two more wickets in his last five as Chris Jordan was caught on the hook and George Garton bowled making room.

In an eventful start to the Rockets’ chase, Garton opened with a freakish beamer to Short, but the left-armer recovered to clean up local favourite Alex Hales for a first-ball duck. 

By contrast, the rest of the innings was drama-free. 

At halfway, Rockets were 68 without further loss, needing 59 from 50 balls, nullifying the need for risk from Malan and Short.

Nonetheless, the balls that deserved to be hit were duly hit, Malan celebrated his fifty with an uppercut six off Jordan. 

The end came when Short - who was twice caught off free hits early in his innings - launched the 81st ball over the long-on boundary off Dawson before stroking the next into the covers for the winning run. 

De Lange’s inclusion in the side came as a result of Wahab Riaz’s omission, with the South African signed on a short term deal to replace the Pakistan international. 

“From a personal perspective I wasn’t expecting to be part of this tournament,” he concluded.

“I try to take my opportunities and be ready, it’s lovely playing the short format.”