Welsh Fire make 15 in the powerplay, Mooney makes 57, and the Rockets stroll home
Welsh Fire managed 15 runs from their first 25 balls at Sophia Gardens and never got the afternoon back. Beth Mooney reached fifty in 27 balls and Trent Rockets won by eight wickets with 17 to spare.
Jul 29, 2026
Two sides batted 25 balls at Sophia Gardens on Wednesday. Welsh Fire made 15 for none from theirs. Trent Rockets made 50 for none from theirs. Everything that happened across the other 133 deliveries of the afternoon was decoration.
Rockets won by eight wickets with 17 balls to spare, chasing 130 without ever looking like they needed to hurry.
Fifteen runs, and then a rebuild that arrived too late
Ashleigh Gardner put Welsh Fire in and her bowlers gave her the start she wanted. Ella McCaughan and Georgia Voll were pinned down and then removed, McCaughan lbw to Gardner for 6, Voll caught behind off Charley Phillips for 18. Fire were 28 for 2 after 41 balls, and their eventual total of 129 included 11 wides.
Sophie Devine and Freya Kemp got them moving again. Their stand was worth 71 off 44 balls and took Fire to 99 before Phillips bowled Devine for 38. Kemp finished unbeaten on 36 from 29, and Georgia Wareham did the late work, 19 not out off 10 with three fours, which got the total to 129 for 3.
Phillips was the pick of the Rockets attack with 2 for 17 from her 20 balls. Kim Garth conceded 19 off 20, Georgia Elwiss the same off 15. Nobody else took a wicket, and nobody needed to.
Mooney took it away in half an hour
Beth Mooney reached fifty off 27 balls and finished with 57 from 35, eight fours and a six. She and Sophia Dunkley put on 73 inside 40 deliveries, which meant the chase was more than half done before either side had used a third of its allocation.
Heather Graham removed Dunkley for 15 and Em Arlott had Mooney caught by Voll with 92 on the board, but Nat Sciver-Brunt was already in and going along at better than a run a ball. She ended on 37 not out from 23, Gardner alongside her on 10, and Rockets got home with 17 of their 100 balls unused. Mooney took the player-of-the-match award.
Third on points, first on net run rate
Rockets sit third on eight points from three matches, behind Southern Brave on 12 and Manchester Super Giants on 10. What they do have is the best net run rate in the competition at 2.284, built on this win and the nine-wicket demolition of Birmingham Phoenix at Edgbaston on 24 July, when they chased 65 in 31 balls.
That matters, because their next game is against Super Giants, who are second on the table with the second-best net run rate. Welsh Fire drop to fifth on four points and face Brave and Super Giants in their next three.