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James Tomlinson, the Hampshire left-arm seamer, has announced his retirement after a 14-year career, saying he feels like the ‘old dog’ at the back of pack and now is the time to ‘head back to the den’

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Sep-2016James Tomlinson, the Hampshire left-arm seamer, has announced his retirement after a 14-year career, saying he feels like the “old dog” at the back of pack and now is the time to “head back to the den”.Tomlinson, 34, played 129 first-class matches taking 382 wickets at 31.92 with a career-best 8 for 46 against Somerset, at Taunton, in 2008. Known for his humorous personality, Tomlinson confirmed his retirement with a colourful statement.”I remember years ago watching a nature documentary that followed a pack of wild dogs on a hunt. At the front of the pack there were the young and keen dogs who couldn’t wait to get stuck in, then in the middle were the experienced, healthy dogs who knew what they were doing and held the pack together.”But I will never forget the image of one old dog at the back of the pack trying to keep up. He had half a leg missing and an ear hanging off from what must have been years of previous battles. When he finally arrived at the scene all that was left were scraps… Although I was once both the young dog at the front and the healthy dog in the middle I feel now is the right time to head back to the den. I now have the opportunity to do just that and look after all the young dogs coming through. A job I already love and cherish.”He went on to thank his brothers, Hugh and Ralph, as well as former Pakistan great Wasim Akram who had a spell with Hampshire in 2003 which was early in Tomlinson’s career. He also praised Hampshire’s slip cordon and the Dukes ball used in county cricket, before signing off in light-hearted style.”However I would most like to thank the opposition batters who somehow for over a decade missed the straight ones and nicked the half volleys… to you all I will be forever grateful!”

Leicestershire have been deducted 16 points in the LV= County Championship and fined £5,000 for at a disciplinary panel hearing at Lord’s called to rule on the persistent misbehaviour of their players

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Aug-2015Leicestershire have been deducted 16 points in the LV= County Championship and fined £5,000 following a disciplinary panel hearing at Lord’s called to rule on the persistent misbehaviour of their players.The punishment severely undermines their attempts to avoid the wooden spoon for the third successive season and leaves them 32 points behind the second-bottom club, Kent, with only four matches remaining.Leicestershire’s chief executive, who attended the hearing with chairman Paul Haywood and head coach Andrew McDonald, called the sanction “severe”.The Disciplinary Panel, chaired by Gerard Elias QC and including the former players Mike Smith and Ronnie Irani, convened to hear a charge brought by the ECB against Leicestershire in respect of five or more separate occasions when their players committed fixed penalty offences in a 12-month period.The ECB statement read: “The points deduction is immediate but the fine will be suspended for a period of 12 months and will be imposed if Leicestershire players commit a further two fixed penalty breaches within that period. In addition Leicestershire were ordered to pay £500 towards the cost of the hearing.”The panel took into account the guilty plea and the changes that have taken place at the club within the past year as well as the club’s stated intention to improve their disciplinary situation. However they noted the overall seriousness of the five offences and felt that more substantial action should have been taken to address these issues at an earlier stage. “Khan, who has shown signs of revitalising Leicestershire since taking over last winter, said: “Andrew and I have worked hard, and continue to do so, to improve the expected standards and levels of discipline expected of Leicestershire cricketers. It is unfortunate that two of the highest level indiscretions happened last year that we had no control over and we believe that the latest low level incident reported was particularly harsh.”Unfortunately there is no platform for us as a club to appeal any of the reported incidents. We have already put in place procedures relating to player education and will be talking to the Professional Cricketers Association as to what further programmes we can put into place.”The players have a duty to behave on the field as well as off the field in a manner that the club expects and so this is simply not acceptable to us. Further discussions with regards to future behaviour and the repercussions will be outlined to players within the next 24 hours.”The conclusion to today’s hearing is bitterly disappointing to us considering the superb win earlier this week against Derbyshire and taking into account the significant strides we have made this season.”Clearly more needs to be done, but we will brush ourselves off and remain determined to do everything possible to improve every aspect of the club.”

Shane Watson will be pushing against the prevailing tide of Australian cricket should he choose to abandon bowling in his search for a way out of the maze of injuries that have blighted his sporadic Test career

Daniel Brettig29-Dec-2012Shane Watson will be pushing against the prevailing tide of Australian cricket should he choose to abandon bowling in his search for a way out of the maze of injuries that have blighted his sporadic Test career. In the aftermath of the Boxing Day Test, in which he aggravated a calf niggle he had taken into the match, Watson admitted for the first time that he was seriously considering recasting himself as a batsman to play more consistent sequences for Australia.The national selectors and the team performance manager Pat Howard have made it patently clear their preference is for Watson to remain an allrounder, in keeping with a policy to push for cricketers as widely skilled as possible. This has been underlined by the selection of the Victorian Glenn Maxwell for the New Year’s Test at the SCG, where his assortment of skills will contrast with the one-note batting role Watson may yet turn to.”At the end of the Test series Shane will have the opportunity to sit down with a few of us and have that discussion,” Howard said. “The selectors have been very keen on having people who are multi-skilled across the board. You’ve seen many of our players bowl this summer, even the wicketkeeper. I think the selectors are open to discussion with any player regarding how they see they can get the best out of them. If Shane Watson opens that dialogue he’s free to do that, and to be judged on those performances.”Very much the selectors do want that multi-skill ability. That’s not just about Shane Watson, they love people being able to bat, bowl, field, bring some leadership to the table, and having more than one skill. When the selectors sit down they do look at that ability, but also they look at the mix as well. If Shane or anybody wants to be a batsman only, well somebody else has got to be able to take up the overs.”That’s something selectors think about when they put up a squad of 13 but also when they put up 11. How can they make sure that Michael Clarke, Mickey Arthur, the selectors and the team have a bowling armoury that can work together and deal with a James Pattinson situation from Adelaide. We got exposed there, obviously, it had flow-on effects for Perth and probably flow-on effects afterwards.”The push towards cricketers of greater versatility may presently be linked to reducing the chances of injuries to the squad’s younger fast bowlers, but has its origins in the West Australian Sheffield Shield teams of the 1970s led by John Inverarity and his deputy Rod Marsh, now the senior selection figures on the national panel. The emphasis on batsmen who could bowl and vice versa was pronounced enough to mean even wicketkeeper Marsh bowled his quota in the nets. Howard also noted that at 37, the highly valuable Michael Hussey could not be expected to bowl as much as he has in recent times, leaving further slack to take up.”The reliance on Mike taking at 37 years of age a lot of overs is something we can’t rely on,” Howard said. “Being able to do the odd over here and there we’ve seen Dave Warner bowl, so that multi-skill is being pushed. I know Usman Khawaja bowled in the Chairman’s XI and got a wicket against Sri Lanka. So that message is getting through from the selectors. Those who work hard on their fielding, work hard on their other attributes … we want that ability to bat deep, we want batsman to bowl, and John Inverarity and Mickey Arthur and the selection panel do drum that in.”Typically, Watson has been reluctant to play when picking up injuries, even minor ones. Yet in Melbourne he played, his calf niggle perhaps overshadowed by the greater doubt surrounding Clarke’s hamstring and the presumption that Watson would take up the leadership of the team if the captain failed to prove his fitness.”It was a niggle, nothing more than that,” Howard said. “If you’re a professional sportsman you have niggles you have going in. He had a niggle, so did a lot of guys, but it did get worse during the Test match. That [Watson not playing] was a possibility. But we know that he can contribute, we know he had a heavy workload in Hobart, but so did Peter Siddle, so did Mitchell Starc, and we knew from the lesson from Adelaide to Perth, taking a group of guys all with high injury risks, you can’t take everybody in together.”Howard also sounded a note of gratitude for the selectors’ fortitude in ignoring public pressure not to rest Mitchell Starc from the Melbourne Test after his five-wicket haul to close out the first Test in Hobart. Mitchell Johnson and Jackson Bird were instead included as fresh pacemen and shared 10 wickets between them as Sri Lanka were routed on two and a half days.”The fast bowling discussion was a very big one in the lead-up to this Test,” Howard said. “There’ll be differing views through that process but there’s the opportunity to give the selectors a bit of a wrap regarding that. They held firm and I think many of you would say there’s been some benefit to that process, so I think on reflection it’s been a reasonably positive couple of days.”Injuries are a difficult part of the world game at the moment that we’ve all got to try to be very good at, we want to be the best at it, and we’ve got a long way to go. It’s one of those things where if we try to play with 11 [fit] players it makes a significant difference to the outcome of the game.”

Matthew Wade is expected to earn a Test call-up for the tour of the West Indies in April after the national selector John Inverarity expressed his desire to have two wicketkeepers in the squad

Brydon Coverdale30-Jan-2012Matthew Wade is expected to earn a Test call-up for the tour of the West Indies in April after the national selector John Inverarity expressed his desire to have two wicketkeepers in the squad. Wade has been named in Australia’s side for the first three ODIs of the upcoming tri-series while Brad Haddin rests following a long period of cricket.Strong performances from Wade in those matches could build pressure on Haddin, 34, who has had a difficult few months with the bat and behind the stumps. The coach Mickey Arthur wants Haddin to still be around for the 2013 Ashes but Wade, 24, is also viewed as a potential Test player and averages 40.16 in first-class cricket.Last time the Australians played Tests in the West Indies they were forced to fly Luke Ronchi in mid-tour as a standby player for Haddin, who in his debut Test series broke a finger, but battled on and played all three Tests. Inverarity said a backup gloveman was desirable for this year’s Caribbean trip, which included three Tests in April.”The West Indies is a pretty difficult place to get to from Australia, so at this stage and it will depend on the budget, but we’re keen to have two keepers there throughout the West Indies tour,” Inverarity said. “If a keeper breaks his hand it would probably be five days to a week before a replacement could get organised, get there, recover from jetlag and be ready to play.”If you’ve got one wicketkeeper in the West Indies and two days before a Test he breaks his hand and cannot keep, what do you do?”With Tim Paine still out due to a long-term finger injury, Wade is the logical choice as the next in line behind Haddin, although Peter Nevill of New South Wales is also pushing his case. Wade might even open the batting in the ODIs in February, as no obvious opening partner for David Warner was named in the squad with Shane Watson still injured and Shaun Marsh dropped.Inverarity said it remained to be seen whether Haddin would return for the later stages of the one-day series against Sri Lanka and India or whether he would be better off taking a longer break. He said it was up to Haddin, who will captain the Prime Minister’s XI against Sri Lanka this Friday, whether he would play any Sheffield Shield cricket in the meantime, after a lean few months with the bat in Test cricket.”That’s up to Brad. He won’t be playing the next Shield match because being a Canberra lad he’s captaining the side for the Prime Minister’s XI,” Inverarity said. “The Shield match starts the next day. I think that’s a good opportunity for Brad to be able to put his feet up for a bit. I think an essential part of preparation is refreshment and the opportunity to take it easy for a time and get mentally refreshed.”It provides a terrific opportunity for Matthew Wade. We hope Matthew Wade keeps and bats brilliantly and then we have two keepers at the level, because you never know when a wicketkeeper is going to break down. We’re all for developing Matthew Wade and Brad Haddin both together.”

A lack of mental toughness and an inability to deal with high-pressure situations are Zimbabwe’s major weaknesses, according to their batting coach Grant Flower

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Dec-2010A lack of mental toughness and an inability to deal with high-pressure situations are Zimbabwe’s major weaknesses, according to their batting coach Grant Flower. Flower, who made a brief comeback to international cricket during a tour to South Africa in October, accompanied the team to Bangladesh on his first overseas tour since taking up the coaching role.Zimbabwe won the first one-day international at Mirpur by nine runs but then capitulated against Bangladesh’s left-arm spinners to slip to a 3-1 series defeat. Abdur Razzak was the chief destroyer, picking up 13 wickets – including a haul of 5 for 30 in the second game.”Look, there are guys who have played a lot of cricket in this team,” Flower told . “There’s no longer any excuse of inexperience. I think the guys need to toughen up a bit. They need to deal with the pressure a lot better. Look, it’s a balance between technique and the mental side. I think it’s the mental aspect we need to work on.”Flower added that Zimbabwe’s success at the World Cup, which begins in February, will depend upon their ability to adapt to what are likely to be similarly spin-friendly pitches in India and Sri Lanka. As well as a pre-tournament trip to Dubai in order to acclimatise to subcontinental conditions, Flower suggested that wickets suited to slow bowlers would be prepared in Zimbabwe’s domestic season, which is currently underway.”When our domestic season resumes in January, we will try to practice on turning wickets,” he said. “We will prepare turning wickets in our local competitions. We are also going to have a training camp in Dubai for 10 days in early February before the World Cup. Hopefully we will have conditions similar to India and Sri Lanka.”Flower also said that he was looking forward to working with Brian Lara, who has agreed to a batting consultancy contract and will work with the national side ahead of the World Cup and a tabled return to Test cricket in a home series against Bangladesh in May next year.”I have never worked with him before so I’m looking forward to it. He is one of the world’s best batsmen, but it doesn’t mean he will be the best coach. I might learn something from him. I hope I will.”

No tickets were sold for the fourth ODI between India and Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens after the Cricket Association of Bengal decided to offer available seats to its members and affiliated clubs

Cricinfo staff24-Dec-2009No tickets were sold for the fourth ODI between India and Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens after the Cricket Association of Bengal decided to offer available seats to its members and affiliated clubs. The stadium is being renovated for the World Cup in 2011 and with four stands out of service, only half the seats were available for the match.”We are obliged to reserve seats for our members and clubs,” CAB official Biswarup Dey said. “Even all of them were not accommodated because there was just not enough space. So we decided not to sell tickets for the game.”The one-dayer was Kolkata’s first since February 2007, when former BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya, a rival of the current Sharad Pawar-Shashank Manohar faction, returned to power in the state. But Kolkata will host four World Cup matches.Virender Sehwag, India’s stand-in captain, said it was unusual not to play in front of a packed Eden Gardens. “But there will be a better, bigger stadium for the World Cup,” Sehwag said. “Still, 40,000 is more than what we get at many grounds around the world.”

Leicestershire eliminated after reaching 321 for 9 in spirited chase at New Road

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay 24-Aug-2025Brett D’Oliveira’s 107 gave Worcestershire Rapids the platform for a 16-run victory over Leicestershire Foxes, clinching a top-three finish while eliminating the home side, who finished 312 for nine in reply to the Rapids’ 328.D’Oliveira’s second hundred of this year’s 50-over competition came off 105 balls and contained 15 fours and two sixes. He had shared a stand of 119 for the first wicket with 19-year-old Daniel Lategan (34 off 59). Rob Jones (67 off 59) made the next biggest impression on the Foxes attack.After Leicestershire had sunk to 23 for four in reply, Shan Masood (88 off 87) hit 14 fours and Ben Cox (76 off 80) a dozen as the pair put on 163 for the fifth wicket in a determined fightback.Ben Mike, batting with a runner after sustaining a hamstring injury while bowling, defied the pain to hit five sixes in a brave unbeaten 72 off 45 balls but it proved in vain, with seamer Ben Allison taking three for 87 to keep the Rapids in with a chance of topping Group A with one match to come.Occasional spinner Rishi Patel’s five for 65 for the Foxes was his maiden five-wicket haul in senior cricket.Rapids won the toss, after which D’Oliveira and Lategan dominated the first 80 minutes of the contest.Patel eventually had Lategan lbw sweeping, the breakthrough in the 20th over quickly followed by Kashif Ali and Libby falling cheaply. The former was beaten by a Patel leg break and stumped, Libby tamely caught and bowled by Trevaskis.D’Oliveira, who had swatted both his sixes in one over off the expensive Mike before the all-rounder limped off the field, was 100 from 99 balls out of 176 for three in the 29th.He was caught at mid-off soon afterwards, after which Ethan Brookes was leg before to Trevaskis reverse sweeping. But Jones holed out to long-on as Worcestershire lost wickets in each of the last four overs.Holland bowled Cullen (32 from 27) off a bottom edge, Patel saw Allison caught at long-on and bowled Ben Gibbon to complete his five. Matthew Waite hit Tom Scriven straight to cover.Nonetheless, the Rapids had thrown down a challenge which looked enormous as the Foxes found themselves four down for 23 inside six overs, despite the visitors resting two senior bowlers.Gibbon, who missed the 2024 competition through injury, struck with his third delivery as Patel dragged on, the Foxes opener brought down to earth with a duck.Lewis Hill was caught at point as Gibbon struck again, while Allison removed Sol Budinger, caught at cover, and skipper Peter Handscomb, who edged to second slip.Yet Worcestershire’s new-ball pair then surrendered runs rather easily, Masood and Cox reeling off six consecutive fours – three apiece of each of the bowlers – and putting on 50 in just 26 balls in a confident counter-attack.Waite and Brookes slowed their progress yet, as the silky Masood (50 from 41) and the busy Cox (50 from 53) stretched their partnership into three figures, a difficult caught-and-bowled chance offered to Brookes by Cox on 48 had been their only moment of jeopardy.But when Brookes returned for a new spell, Cox tickled one on the leg side to be caught behind with Cullen standing up. Four balls later Cullen, now standing back to Allison, dived to his left to snare Masood off a thickish edge, leaving 141 needed, four wickets left, and less than 18 overs remaining.Holland, top-edging to fine leg, and Trevaskis, slicing to third man, gave 19-year-old Jack Home two wickets. Mike was in obvious discomfort but after Scriven had picked out the fielder at deep midwicket he kept clearing the rope to keep the home crowd interested but 29 off the final Allison over was too many.

Sri Lanka head coach feels “putting on the jersey and representing the country” is motivation enough for his team

Madushka Balasuriya12-Mar-2024There’s no Super League, they failed to qualify for the Champions Trophy, and the next ODI World Cup is still three years away, but that doesn’t mean Sri Lanka are going to ease off. Sure, the overall focus is largely on June’s T20 World Cup, but according to head coach Chris Silverwood, an ODI series representing your country, particularly against a Bangladesh side with which they now have a fairly substantial rivalry, doesn’t require much by the way of external motivation.”I think the motivation is that you’re playing for your country. I think you’ve seen on the field that there’s two passionate teams playing for their countries,” Silverwood said on the eve of the first ODI. “I think putting on that jersey and representing your country is motivation enough. And that’s exactly what we feel in our dressing room. So, the motivation is there.”The embers of the rivalry between the two sides were once more stoked during the T20I series when Shoriful Islam celebrated a wicket in the first game with the now infamous time-out gesture pointing at his wrist. While the second game went off without incident, in the final T20I there were some strong words shared by Towhid Hridoy in response to a comment by a Sri Lankan player following the former’s dismissal, and then Sri Lanka fanned the flames further by posing for the series trophy with the entire team performing the timed-out gesture.Related

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While both sides have, at least outwardly, spoken towards putting an end to the back and forth, Silverwood acknowledged that the rivalry has brought about a good competitive edge to both sides.”The rivalry is obviously great. I think we need good competition. And as I said about the T20, it was two good sides and we’re going to play some competitive cricket. I expect exactly the same again in this tournament, in this series. So that’s what I’ll be looking for, some strong cricket being played. And obviously both teams will be looking for the same, I should imagine.”In terms of ODI preparation, this is a Sri Lanka side still at the start of its cycle, one which they have begun extremely well with series wins against Zimbabwe and Afghanistan – as well a string of high scores courtesy refreshing positive intent from their batters. And Silverwood is keen to keep building on this momentum.”We’re in a new cycle now, so we’re again building towards a style of brand of cricket that we want to play in the next World Cup. And that’s something that we’re trying to invent within the team, and this again is part of that process of doing that.”We’re trying to continue the momentum that we’ve had from the series at home as well in Sri Lanka, where we played some fantastic cricket. And I’ll be encouraging the guys to go out and do the same thing. So, the batsmen to go score big runs individually and as a team to put those big scores on the scoreboard. And we’re asking the bowlers to keep producing their skills and keep getting better and better.”Key to their batting hopes will be the returning Pathum Nissanka. The opener has been in he midst of the most purple of purple patches recently, starting with his string of half centuries in last year’s World Cup and peaking last month as he became the first Sri Lankan to score an ODI double century. He was a big miss in the T20s having been ruled out with a hamstring injury, but he’s back in the squad for the ODIs, and Silverwood has labelled his return as “massive”.”I spoke earlier about fantastic individual contributions. You speak about Pathum in particular. I think what he achieved in Kandy was nothing short of exceptional. And obviously, we’re all very, very pleased with him in the dressing room. What he has done, he’s gone from strength to strength in the recent past and he’s become probably one of the most consistent performers within that batting lineup. So, he’s a key member of that batting lineup. It’s great to have him here.”Silverwood has termed Pathum Nissanka’s return to the ODI squad as “massive”•AFP/Getty Images

Another player Sri Lanka will be banking on is Kamindu Mendis. The ambidextrous former Under-19 captain found his way back to the national side following a three-year absence earlier this year, and he has since grabbed his latest opportunity with both hands. Given just one game each against Zimbabwe and Afghanistan, he impressed greatly in the latter – nearly stealing victory for Sri Lanka in a steep chase. He then came into into the playing XI more permanently as a replacement for Kusal Perera, who was sidelined with a respiratory infection, and proceeded to impress further against Bangladesh with his ambitious stroke play. Having circled the fringes for so long, he now finally seems to be making a concerted stake for a consistent berth.”I think he thoroughly deserves it. I think what we’ve seen in the T20 series has been very, very good. But to be fair to him, ever since, every time he’s got an opportunity, he’s taken it. So, you know, again, he’s done that. So, we have to give him all of a credit. He works incredibly hard. He’s very diligent with his preparation, and I think he’s got the results he deserves.”

The former opener said that some tough selections call will need to be made

Andrew McGlashan08-Nov-2022Matthew Hayden has urged Australia’s selectors to be ruthless as they build towards future World Cups following the team’s early exit for the T20 event on home soil.There is expected to be a significant turnover in players for the 2024 T20 World Cup in West Indies and the USA, but before that, there is the ODI World Cup in India next October. The selectors have taken the first step towards that tournament by naming a full-strength squad to face England later this month with Travis Head given the chance to cement a position as Aaron Finch’s replacement at the top of the order.Only one change was made from the squad that won the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE with Tim David replacing Mitchell Swepson although Cameron Green later came in for the injured Josh Inglis. Finch has said he won’t make an immediate call on his future but is not expected to feature in the 2024 edition while Matthew Wade is unlikely to feature. Steven Smith’s position will also be up for debate while there may be a restructuring of the bowling attack away from the all-format quicks.Related

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Hayden, speaking in his capacity as Pakistan’s team mentor, drew comparisons from his playing days when the selectors made bold calls to rebuild teams with an eye on future World Cups.”The Australian team has some thinking to do. There has to be some freshness,” Hayden said. “And I think one of the great strengths of Australian cricket has been its ability to be able to recognise when to make that gear change into a different playing roster. I think full credit and respect has to go to the players that played this tournament, [they] certainly deserve to be there.”A little bit like Mark Waugh giving away to someone like myself after World Cup campaigns, it’s always been quite ruthless preparing for the next World Cup and they seemingly come around more often than not.”Just 12 months ago, we were sitting here talking about the T20 champions and that was Australia…so the tournaments are coming around quick and fast. But certainly, from an Australian cricket point of view, there has to be planning heading towards World Cups. They’re the premium events. They’re the events that everyone across the world plans for, and Australia, unfortunately, just didn’t get it right.”Hayden termed the decision to leave out Mitchell Starc for the Afghanistan match as “really significant.” At the same time, national selector George Bailey attempted to further explain the move saying it came about because Cameron Green, who had replaced the injured Finch, gave Australia another middle-overs option and they wanted to strengthen the death bowling.”Every time an Australian team goes into a major series or tournament … the expectations are very high,” Bailey said. “We’re disappointed we’re not taking part from this point on in the semis. Specifically to Starcy…it was a tactical decision, it was a match-up decision. People can make of that what they will. And they are.”However, Bailey agreed that Australia’s tournament had been left with too much catching up to do after the opening 89-run defeat against New Zealand at the SCG. Daniel Vettori, the assistant coach, has since suggested that it would have been a wiser approach from the batters to minimise the margin of defeat when victory was out of the question.”To get behind the net run rate as far as we did, it meant a lot of things were probably out of our control,” Bailey said. “Every game post that, you provide opportunities to try and chase some of that net run rate back, but you have to give credit to other teams as well. That’s where it went wrong, that first game, to be beaten so comprehensively. You’d like to think that the batting line-up should be able to find its way to 140-150 then you are probably having a different conversation.”

Graham, Johnson claim three wickets each as Fire are bundled out for 102

ECB Reporters Network06-Aug-2021Trent Rockets defeated Welsh Fire in Cardiff by four wickets with eight balls to spare thanks to an excellent fifty from Nat Sciver.The Rockets did a brilliant job at keeping the Fire’s batting under control with Heather Graham and Sammy-Jo Johnson claiming three wickets each as the hosts reached 102 all out from their 100 balls.Sciver made light work of the small target with a measured 54 from 40 balls that set up the win. The victory takes the Rockets to fourth in the Hundred table and within striking distance of a top-three spot and qualification for the knockout stages of the tournament.Having been put into bat, the Fire struggled to get going inside the Powerplay with Hayley Matthews struggling for timing for the first time in the tournament thus far. After 25 balls, the home team had reached 22 without loss and by the halfway stage of their innings they were 52 for 2 with Matthews on 13 from 25 balls.There was an acceleration from Matthews as she scored 15 runs in the next six balls she faced. It was exactly what the team needed but she couldn’t sustain that scoring rate, slicing a catch to Nancy Harman off the bowling of Graham.When Graham bowled Sarah Taylor two balls later the Fire had lost all the impetus that the flurry of Matthews boundaries had given them as they found themselves with two batters who had yet to face a ball in the middle.When Taylor fell the score was 76 for 4 from 63 balls. In the remaining 27 balls of their innings the Fire managed 26 runs for the loss of six wickets, finishing on 102 in a batting effort that included three run outs and three excellent stumpings by Rachel Priest.The Fire had a sub-par target to defend but they began well with the ball, with Johnson and Priest dismissed inside the first 15 balls. From there the Fire struggled to stay in the game as a 66-run partnership between Sciver and Katherine Brunt put the result beyond doubt.Brunt and Sciver were amongs four wickets to fall as the Rockets closed in on their target but despite this late flurry it was never enough to put their win in danger.