Trent Rockets rubber-stamped their place in The Hundred Final, chasing down the Brave’s 117-5 thanks to a destructive late cameo from Nat Sciver-Brunt.

Brave needed to win by 94 runs to overtake the Rockets once they had been asked to bat first. They had lost Jemimah Rodrigues to a hamstring injury, with Charli Knott coming in, while captain Sophie Molineux was unavailable due to a stomach bug, Laura Wolvaardt taking the armband. 

Although the Brave’s top three of Maia Bouchier, Lizelle Lee and Wolvaardt all went beyond 20, none could score at a rate above 115 as the bowlers hit their marks. Lee was the first to go with the score on 49 off 47 and things did not speed up sufficiently from that point for the Brave to think about the kind of margin of victory they were looking for.

There were no sixes in an innings that petered out somewhat to 117-5, having been 95-1 off 79, and any tension about who would go directly to the final had dissipated early on. Georgia Adams was excellent with the ball, picking up 2-14, all of the runs she conceded being singles.

Lauren Bell, Issy Wong and Tilly Corteen-Coleman combined to leave the Rockets on 10-3 after 25 balls, but Ash Gardner counter-punched, hitting the game’s only six, and when she slammed Corteen-Coleman over mid-off to take the score to 26, the Rockets were in the final. She and Bess Heath combined for 53 before both went within the space of three runs.

That merely served to bring in Sciver-Brunt with a daunting 51 needed from 30 balls. Nine balls later she was on 25 with five fours, three in succession off Wong. 

After Adams was run out unluckily, Georgia Elwiss joined Sciver-Brunt and her cool 10 off four balls helped Sciver-Brunt ace the chase, giving the Rockets a relatively long rest before they look to take the crown at Lord’s next Sunday.