Alex Hales eulogised a special Trent Bridge atmosphere after firing Trent Rockets to victory in their opening game in The Hundred against Birmingham Pheonix.

The opener anchored his side’s chase of 143 with a 41-ball 58, and praised the environment created by a fervent crowd, whilst admitting knowledge of his home ground came in handy.

“The atmosphere was incredible,” Hales said. 

“It seems to get better every time I play here. It was amazing to see all the smiling faces and the kids enjoying themselves. 

“We thought the [Birmingham Pheonix] score was about par. But we know that Trent Bridge is a fast-scoring ground, with pockets of the ground you can hit to. It took me a little while to find my rhythm but I got there eventually.”

Hales shared partnerships of 52 off 33 balls with Colin Munro (36 off 22) and 79 off 54 with Joe Root, who finished unbeaten on 34 from 26 balls, as skipper Lewis Gregory hit the winning boundary with three balls to spare.

Liam Livingstone hit five sixes in his 28-ball 47 and Moeen Ali three in his 21-ball 35 for Phoenix, but four Rockets bowlers conceded 1.2 runs per ball or fewer - including Daniel Sams who took 3-24 - to restrict the visitors.

Put in, Phoenix lost Will Smeed to ball 12 but Moeen turned a modest powerplay into a decent one with back-to-back sixes down the ground off Matt Carter.

Ali looked in the mood as he slog-swept Rashid Khan for another maximum as he and Miles Hammond - a late stand-in after Australia’s Matthew Wade absence due to illness -  added 53 off 31 before Ali picked out Rashid at deep mid-wicket.

After Livingstone escaped a stumping chance, two wickets in four balls by home favourite Samit Patel saw Hammond fall for 28 off 19 via a fine catch in the deep by Hales and new man Dan Mousley caught at mid-off.

Chris Benjamin went cheaply too and, with Phoenix needing impetus, Livingstone provided it. The right-hander struck three sixes in a row over the leg side off Rashid, whose 20 balls cost 39 runs.

But left-arm seamer Luke Wood conceded only seven runs in two sets at the death, in between which Livingstone holed out to long off to give Sams a big wicket off his final ball.

Dawid Malan perished fifth ball to one that slipped under his bat as Rockets began their pursuit but 29 off 10 balls - 24 to Munro including back-to-back sixes off Graeme Van Buuren’s left-arm spin - had them in front at 47/1 from 25.

As the field spread, so the scoring rate slowed. Munro, eager not to be tied down, paid the price as a top edge off Livingstone looped to short fine leg to see him fall off ball 38. Hales drove ball 40 to the fence before he and Root rotated the strike without scoring a boundary for 25 balls. 

Hales put that right with two sixes over wide long-on off Van Buuren, bringing the target down to 39 from 30 balls, with the next two sets by Imran Tahir and Moeen leaking 21 more.

A four pulled to deep midwicket took Hales to his first fifty in this format and though he perished to a steepling return catch off Tom Helm, who also picked up the wicket of Kohler-Cadmore at the death, he had made the task ultimately a straightforward one.

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With one of Trent Bridge's remaining three fixtures in the second edition of The Hundred having already sold out, tickets are currently available for matches on Wednesday 17 and Bank Holiday Monday 29 August. 

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