Birmingham 261 for two (Hain 112*, Hose 88*) beat Nottinghamshire 206 (Clarke 86, Moores 40, Brathwaite 3-31) by 55 runs
Hain is unquestionably the very best 50-over batter by no means to play for England and, as his profession progresses, his strike fee is quickening in T20, too. His unbeaten 112 (his first on this format) took 52 balls, with 12 fours and 5 sixes, and unusually for scores of this magnitude, he was not leg-facet dependent. His first fifty handed by nearly unnoticed, which could be his behavior, nevertheless it was fairly a feat on a file-breaking evening like this. Perception is all. He doesn’t fairly match England’s gung-ho picture and, if he cannot get a gig on a tour of the Netherlands, it might be endlessly thus. Still, a minimum of he can level to a T20 common at Trent Bridge of 411.
Hose’s 88 from 35 balls, with three fours and 10 sixes, had extra of a leg-facet emphasis, though not solely. Dan Christian’s medium tempo was brutally punished, his three overs costing 59, his final two overs conceding six sixes, as Hose smashed 28 from his final of the innings.
Trent Bridge was parched, drain strains on the outfield clearly seen, beige advancing upon inexperienced by the hour. The outfield was like glass and the boundary on the Fox Road facet of the bottom had additionally been introduced in to an extreme extent. No hover cowl wants that a lot room. Nottinghamshire will argue that they have been merely balancing the boundary distances with the pitch set nicely over to the opposite facet of the bottom, however they have been most likely glad to tackle Birmingham in a six-hitting contest. They misplaced it 18-9.
Since Test outfields improved their drainage a decade or extra in the past, it solely takes a heatwave to final a few days for bowlers to really feel bereft. The most forlorn sight of the opening overs got here from a drone shot of the bottom as Patel set off from quick high-quality lag in hopeless chase of a number of sweep pictures which had crossed the boundary earlier than he had acquired into his stride. Notts typically appeared flat within the area, an unusual sight for the Trent Bridge crowd which started to stream away lengthy earlier than the tip.
Peter Moores, Notts’ coach, was left to reply to those that felt a bit of sated by the expertise. “I take the point that there’s more to cricket than fours and sixes but I’d just say this was one of those nights, far from the usual. And it was great entertainment. I’d say let’s take it for what it is: one of those nights, a brilliant pitch to bat on, brilliant weather to watch it. Not every game will be like that.”