Jason Roy, Sunil Narine help keep Oval Invincibles invincible at home

Rockets fall to second defeat of campaign after rain forces 65-balls contest

Matt Roller08-Aug-2021Trent Rockets were the Hundred’s early pace-setters but fell to defeat in their first outing in “the Sixty-Five”, as Jason Roy and Sunil Narine inspired Oval Invincibles to a third straight home win in a reduced game in south London.It was nearly seven hours after the initial start time when Tom Curran had Rashid Khan caught at mid-off to put the finishing touches on the win. A crowd of 19,382 stuck it out after two short bursts of rain were enough to wipe out the women’s match and 70 balls of the men’s, and while plenty of families had long since left for home, those who stayed were treated to a high-octane game with a tense finish.The Invincibles’ total of 125 – four more than Welsh Fire had managed on the same pitch earlier this week, despite the full 100 balls – owed much to Roy, whose 56 was the match’s only significant contribution by a batter and accounted for more than half of the Invincibles’ runs off the bat. He was destructive against both spin and pace, crunching four sixes into the stands, and batted through the innings to hold things together.Narine was the key man in the chase, removing three of the Rockets’ top four and returning remarkable figures of 3 for 11. The only surprise was that the Invincibles’ captain, Sam Billings, opted against giving him his full allocation of 15 balls. Five batters made double figures, but Lewis Gregory’s 28 not out was the highest score.Roy’s lone hand
Most teams around the world agree that the way to go against Roy early in an innings is to thrown the ball to a spinner whose stock ball turns away from his outside edge, and Gregory gave the first two sets of five to Samit Patel and Rashid Khan, defending a long leg-side boundary. But Roy was not in the mood to nudge and nurdle: Rashid gave his first ball some flight, so he swung viciously to crunch the first six of the innings over long-off.He was briefly becalmed in the middle phase of the innings, after the Powerplay, and was given a life on 18 when Rashid dropped a simple chance at deep midwicket, but was brutal against Matt Carter (whom he hit for 20 runs off seven balls) and Timm van der Gugten (19 off 6) while batting through the innings for 56 off 29.The Invincibles struggled for partnerships – the highest was the first-wicket stand of 39 that Roy shared with Will Jacks, the only other batter to reach double figures – but their middle order maintained their attacking intent, with the pinch-hitting Narine the only one of their eight batters not to hit a boundary.Samit Patel (2 for 21 from 15 balls) and debutant Sam Cook (1 for 10 from 10) were the pick of the Rockets attack, with Luke Wood and Wahab Riaz missing through injuries, but Rashid (1 for 28 from 15) struggled to make an impact. They were occasionally sloppy in the field, with van der Gugten dropping a dolly at midwicket off Jacks early on – though Gregory took a blinder at short extra cover to remove Colin Ingram.Every Ball Counts
The Hundred’s ubiquitous tagline took on a new meaning during Reece Topley’s first set of five. Alex Hales, the key man in the Rockets’ chase, had hit the first two deliveries for four and two, backing away to open up the off side with the two boundary-riders defending the shorter leg side, but his night took a turn for the worse moments later.Topley banged the ball in on a hard length, cramped him for room, and sent him tumbling with a cry of “oh no!” picked up by the stump mic. Hales lay prone for several minutes, punching the ground in agony, with Ebony Rainford-Brent explaining on Sky Sports for those in any doubt that he had been “nailed in the goolie woolie woolies”.