Duckett takes over the run charts, and Gregory defends 16 off five balls

Sixteen runs off five balls, with Sunrisers Leeds four wickets down and Trent Bridge on its feet. Lewis Gregory bowled them and Trent Rockets won by five, which is how the men’s Hundred table stayed exactly as it was.

Donald walks in at three and hits three sixes

Aneurin Donald had not played a game in this tournament before Sunday. He came in at number three and made 40 off 19 balls with three sixes in it, which is the sort of innings that sets a total without anyone quite planning for it.

Ben Duckett did the more conventional work. His 64 came off 47 balls, his fifty off 35, and it moved him past Phil Salt to the top of the men’s competition run charts. He and Tim David put on 50 in 35 balls before Nathan Ellis bowled Duckett as he went for a scoop.

David’s own contribution was slower than his reputation suggests, 24 not out off 22, though he did finish with a six. Rockets closed on 146 for 4.

Brook and Marsh had it, and then Amir took it back

Sunrisers were 32 for 1 at the end of the powerplay with Zak Crawley and Mitchell Marsh in, which is a fine platform and not a fast one. Crawley made 26 before Mitchell Santner bowled him. Marsh stayed, Harry Brook arrived and hit 46, and by the time the chase reached its last 16 balls Leeds needed 30 with wickets in hand.

Mohammad Amir bowled the passage that decided it. Brook went first, to a full-length diving catch from Duckett at extra cover, and then Marsh nicked off to Sam Billings. Two wickets, two of the best players in the ground gone, and 25 needed off the last 10 instead of 30 off 16.

Gregory took the ball for the finish and gave up 11 of the 16 required. Sunrisers finished on 141 for 4, which is an unusual way to lose a run chase. They did not get bowled out and they did not collapse. They simply ran out of the two batters who were going to win it.

What it means at the top

Trent Rockets stay top of the men’s table. They also completed an oddity: earlier the same afternoon at the same ground, the Rockets women beat Sunrisers Leeds women by exactly five runs too, defending 139 for 7 after going 32 balls without a boundary. Two Trent Bridge double-header games, two Rockets wins, two five-run margins.

For Sunrisers Leeds the arithmetic is less comfortable. Losing by five with four wickets standing is the kind of defeat that leaves a side wondering whether it needed one more shot rather than one more single, and in a competition this short there are not many games left to work it out in.

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