The Rockets go 32 balls without a boundary, and still beat the champions by five runs

Seventeen runs were needed off the final five balls at Trent Bridge, and Annabel Sutherland, unbeaten and playing the innings of the afternoon, was on strike. Kim Garth bowled that last set for 11, and Trent Rockets got home by five runs against the side that won this competition last year.

Rockets 139 for 7, Sunrisers Leeds 134 for 5. On a pitch Sophia Dunkley later described as slow and a bit funky, the winning margin came down to a middle passage in which the home side forgot how to find the boundary.

Dunkley and Sciver-Brunt make 100 look routine

Sunrisers put Rockets in and lost the argument almost immediately. Beth Mooney went for 2, bowled by Cassidy McCarthy, and after that Dunkley took the game away from them. Her fifty came off 29 balls with eight fours in it, and by the time Sutherland bowled her for 56 off 33 she had hit nine.

Nat Sciver-Brunt was the ideal partner for that, 33 off 25 with a six off Dani Gibson. Their stand of 50 came in 28 balls. At 105 for 3 with 34 balls left, Rockets were set up for something closer to 170.

Then 32 balls without a boundary

Jess Jonassen bowled Sciver-Brunt, then bowled Sophie Luff, and Hannah Baker had Ashleigh Gardner caught at deep midwicket two balls later. Baker also had Georgia Adams stumped. Four wickets went down for 13 runs and the innings stopped moving: 32 deliveries passed without a single four or six.

Bess Heath dragged it back at the end, three fours in the last five balls for 18 off 11 before Sutherland had her caught by Kate Cross off the final delivery. Jonassen finished with 2 for 20, Baker 2 for 28, Sutherland 2 for 26. Deepti Sharma’s 10 balls went for 17 without a wicket.

Sutherland’s lone hand

Chasing 140, Sunrisers never had two batters going at once. Gardner had Bryony Smith caught with her first delivery. Jonassen and Phoebe Litchfield put on 35 before Adams trapped Jonassen lbw for 19, and Charley Phillips removed Litchfield for 24 with the required rate climbing. Gibson fell for 1 and it was 76 for 4 with 30 balls left.

Sutherland decided to do it alone. Her fifty took 27 balls and included three sixes, and Georgia Elwiss took the worst of it, 15 deliveries for 35. Lauren Winfield-Hill hung around for 15 and a stand of 50 in 27 balls, but she was run out by a Dunkley throw to Garth with three balls remaining, and by then Sunrisers needed better than three a ball. Sutherland finished 59 not out off 30 with two fours and four sixes, and on the losing side.

Where it leaves the table

Rockets have won three in a row and sit second on 16 points, four behind unbeaten Southern Brave. Sunrisers, champions in 2025 under their old Northern Superchargers name, have one win from four and are seventh of the eight, level on four points with Welsh Fire and split by a net run rate of one hundredth. Four group games remain for them, starting against London Spirit on Tuesday, and the group stage finishes on 12 August.

Gardner’s 20 balls cost 18, Charley Phillips went for 10 off her set of 10, and between them they took the two wickets that broke the chase open. On an afternoon when 140 looked light at halfway, that was the difference.

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