Half-centuries by Nat Sciver-Brunt and Beth Mooney helped Trent Rockets secure a comfortable 9-wicket win over MI London, at the Oval on Saturday, strengthening their position at the top of the points table.
Samantha Bates led the way with the ball, returning 3 for 13, to restrict MI London to 121 for 5 – a total surpassed with 18 balls remaining.
Put in to bat, Hayley Matthews and Kira Chathli struggled to find early momentum en route their 28-run stand, before Bates trapped Matthews legbefore for a run-a-ball 10.
The fifth straight win confirmed Rockets’ passage to the knockouts.
Mid-way through the innings, the hosts were kept in check at 49 for 4.
Even as Amelia Kerr was in the middle, she couldn’t do much to press the accelerator in the company of Alice Monaghan.
With a comfortable target in sight, the table-toppers didn’t need to do anything ugly even though Sophia Dunkley was cleaned up for a duck.
Using their wide of strokes, Mooney and Sciver-Brunt attacked different parts of the ground, and kept the scoreboard moving at a good pace from quite early on in the innings.
With victory in sight, the duo slowed down a bit for a while and strolled towards the target.
Brief Scores: MI London 121/5 in 100 balls (Kira Chathli 31; Samantha Bates 3-13, Charlie Phillips 1-24) lost to Trent Rockets 125/1 in 82 balls (Nat Sciver-Brunt 67*, Beth Mooney 54*) by 9 wickets
