Santner’s 52 off 23 sends Trent Rockets clear, and four teams are left level on 16 points

Trent Rockets have won six in a row and cannot now finish outside the top three. Behind them, the Hundred has produced the kind of mess that makes the last week of a group stage worth watching: four teams on 16 points, separated by nothing but net run rate.

The Rockets got there at the Kia Oval on Saturday, chasing 148 against MI London with 10 balls to spare. Mitchell Santner made 52 not out off 23 balls and was named player of the match. For a while it did not look like his night, or his team’s.

Santner and David rescue a chase that had gone wrong

Sam Billings put MI London in, which given his side’s record chasing was the obvious call, and the plan nearly came apart in the reply. Finn Allen edged Tom Curran behind for 1. Aneurin Donald hit five fours in a 10-ball 23 and was then run out. Billings himself went for a duck to a caught-and-bowled from Richard Gleeson, and at 46 for 3 off 30 balls the chase was in trouble.

Ben Duckett hung around for 27 off 26 without ever looking settled before edging Gleeson to the keeper. That left 78 needed from 51 balls with Tim David and Santner together, and MI London then dropped three catches inside 13 deliveries.

Santner reached his fifty off 21 balls with five fours and three sixes. David finished unbeaten on 32 from 24. Their stand was worth 78 and neither man was dismissed.

“Six wins out of seven but we’re not guaranteed to finish top,” Santner said afterwards. “We know it’s a big game on Monday, and we know there are quality teams throughout this competition, so it’s going to be a tight finish.”

Sam Curran made 72 and nobody stayed with him

MI London’s innings was one man against an attack that kept taking wickets at the other end. Will Jacks started as if the total would be 200, taking 16 off the first five balls Matt Henry bowled at him, and he made 39 from 26 before Calvin Harrison caught and bowled him one-handed.

By then MI London had already lost James Vince, caught by David off Craig Overton, and Nicholas Pooran, run out by Duckett from extra cover for 1 two balls later. Three down for 70 off 56 balls.

Sam Curran’s 72 off 46 was his highest score in the competition. He hit four fours and five sixes and brought up his fifty in 30 balls. What he did not get was a partner. Ollie Pope was retired out on 8 from nine balls, Sikandar Raza came in at number six and made 16, and Sherfane Rutherford was caught first ball by David off Lewis Gregory. Gregory then had Curran caught off the last delivery of the innings, and 147 for 7 was a good deal less than his 72 deserved.

Four teams, 16 points, and net run rate deciding it

The other match on Saturday sent Manchester Super Giants into the top three. They were 119 without loss in Southampton, courtesy of an opening stand between Tim Seifert and Paul Walter, and then lost eight wickets for 30 to finish on 149 for 8. It still proved enough. Tristan Stubbs made an unbeaten 53 for Southern Brave and the chase died at 139 for 6, a 10-run defeat that ends the Brave’s season in all but name.

That leaves the Rockets on 24 points from seven games and everything under them unresolved. Sunrisers Leeds, Manchester Super Giants, MI London and Welsh Fire are all on 16. Sunrisers sit second on a net run rate of 0.674, the Super Giants third on 0.495, MI London fourth on 0.262 and Welsh Fire fifth on -0.537, which is the kind of gap that one bad afternoon closes or opens entirely.

Sunrisers and Welsh Fire have two games each left. The Rockets, Super Giants and MI London have one apiece. London Spirit and Birmingham Phoenix, both on four points, cannot reach 16 even by winning their remaining two, so they are done.

The Rockets go to Southern Brave on Monday knowing a win takes them top and straight into the final at Lord’s. MI London play Birmingham Phoenix at Edgbaston on Wednesday and will probably need to win it to reach Friday’s Eliminator. Given how the table looks, they will want to do more than win.

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