Trent Rockets 193 for 2 (Malan 98*, Hales 38, Kohler-Cadmore 30) beat Manchester Originals 189 for 3 (Salt 70*, Buttler 41) by eight wickets
Rockets won their third game in a row – leaving Originals with three defeats from three – as they chased a record 190 to triumph by eight wickets with six balls remaining.
Malan was powerful to leg and classy through the off side as he replied with gusto to Originals’ 189 for 3 – at the time, the second-highest score in Hundred history. The left-hander hit nine of the 24 sixes in the match, facing 44 balls.
Salt and captain Jos Buttler, who had lost the toss, shared 84 for the first wicket in 51 balls, the England white-ball skipper contributing an entertaining 41.
Stubbs went after his South African team-mate, but Shamsi did have the last laugh#TheHundred
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) August 13, 2022
Salt also shared an unbroken 52 in the last 20 balls of the Originals’ innings with fourth-wicket partner Laurie Evans (26 not out). Alex Hales aside with three catches, the Rockets weren’t great in the field. Malan dropped Salt at deep square leg on 29.
Samit Patel’s 2 for 20, including the wickets of Buttler and Andre Russell caught at long-on and long-off by Hales, stood out in an otherwise expensive attack. But the Rockets came out with an ‘Anything you can do, we can do better’ approach to their chase.
Hales took Fred Klaassen for a trio of boundaries in the first set of five, while Malan creamed three of the first four sixes over leg as the score raced to 79 without loss after 35 balls.
Runs continued to flow – a polar opposite to the morning women’s game. When Hales, for 38, chipped Matt Parkinson’s legspin to cover – 85 for 1 after 38 – the bulk of the damage had been done.
The shoddy Originals failed to hold either line or length, but Malan was unerring. He did not miss a chance to punish on his way to the Hundred’s second-highest individual score behind Will Smeed’s 101 for Birmingham Phoenix earlier this week.
Malan hit three sixes in as many balls off Parkinson and Sean Abbott, by which time there really was no way back for the Originals at 134 for 1 after 56 – just 56 more runs required.
Malan backed up his unbeaten 88 in Tuesday’s victory over Superchargers at Headingley, and the loss of Tom Kohler-Cadmore (30) lbw to Tom Hartley’s left-arm spin with 29 required was nothing more than consolatory.