The Hundred: Trent Rockets hand Welsh Fire their first defeat of the season after Ben Duckett showing as Lhuan-dre Pretorius stars for London Spirit

Trent Rockets handed Welsh Fire a first defeat of the season in The Hundred in a one-sided affair at Sophia Gardens.

The visitors chased down a below-par target of 123 with 28 balls to spare, Ben Duckett seeing the Rockets to victory with an unbeaten 52.

The start of the Rockets' chase was not fluent by any means but the Fire bowlers were sloppy, giving away four free-hits in the powerplay and seven in total.

Duckett faced the first four, only finding the boundary once, but he and Finn Allen (33) still managed to move the visitors onto 42-0 after 25 balls with little cause for concern.

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The explosive Allen began to accelerate, taking 17 runs off Sam Cook's first five. He and Duckett cruised along against an uninspired Fire attack, taking the score to 75 before Allen fell lbw to fellow Kiwi Rachin Ravindra for 33.

Duckett, joined by Tom Banton (31), continued on his merry way, bringing up a second half-century in as many games, this time from 42 balls, as the Rockets made it two wins from three.

Hosts Fire had earlier ended their batting powerplay on 26-2, having been asked to bat first. They lost Phil Salt and Joe Root for five runs apiece to the seam of Matt Henry (2-16), the latter failing to connect with a ramp.

After reaching 59-2 at halfway, the Fire looked to push on, but proceeded to lose three wickets in the next 14 balls, including the set Matt Short for 36 from 26.

Jordan Cox (33) countered by launching Mitchell Santner's left-arm spin for three consecutive sixes, but perished going for a fourth, spectacularly caught on the cover boundary by a diving Allen.

Fire then limped to 122-7 with Asa Tribe (13no) and Chris Woakes (4no) failing to find the boundary off Mohammad Amir and Lewis Gregory in the closing stages of the innings.

Their target would prove easily surpassable by Trent Rockets, who moved up to second in the table with their second win from three games.

'The bowlers take credit for the win'

Meerkat Match Hero - Ben Duckett - on Sky Sports Cricket:

"The bowlers were superb. Coming here, we spoke about adapting to the pitch as early as you can. They take massive credit for this win.

"My aim was to try and get through the powerplay and then it might actually become easier. It's made a lot easier when you've got Finn Allen at the other end whacking it.

"Four free-hits really help as well, but, to be honest, I really struggled to find rhythm throughout that whole innings. I'm pretty sure everyone saw that. Finn played beautifully and Bants came in and took all the pressure off me.

Spirit beat MI London by seven wickets thanks to Pretorius heroics

Twenty-year-old Lhuan-dre Pretorius smashed 64 from 28 balls to help London Spirit to a seven-wicket win over MI London in a hotly contested London derby.

Chasing 165 to win, Jonny Bairstow and Pretorius flew out of the blocks with the left-handed Pretorius smashing Trent Boult out of the ground, a towering blow 106 metres over midwicket.

The pair brought up the Spirit's 50 off just 18 balls and closed the powerplay on 61-0, breaking the back of the chase in brutal fashion.

Bairstow departed for 23 from 12, but Pretorius kept up the momentum, reaching his first half-century in The Hundred from 23 balls, clearing the ropes seven times in total, as the Spirit cantered towards their target.

He would fall to Boult with the score on 101 just before the halfway mark of the Spirit innings, but the damage was done as Dewald Brevis cracked 37 not out from 18 balls to see the Spirit climb off the bottom of the table with a first victory of the season with 11 balls to spare.

MI London's innings hadn't featured the same lightning start. Will Jacks (65) and James Vince (26) had their work cut out for them against David Willey (0-22) and Adam Milne (0-21), reaching a modest 28-0 at the close of the powerplay against a moving ball.

They were to be rewarded for their patience, moving up through the gears against Adam Zampa and Andrew Tye, England man Jacks moving to his half-century from 30 balls.

Things then swung back in the favour of the visitors when Vince fell to James Coles for 26 and Jamie Overton (3-30) saw the back of Jacks and new man Nicholas Pooran in the space of three balls. Jacks departed for a fine 65 from 44 balls, becoming the highest run-scorer in the history of The Hundred men's competition in the process.

Overton continued the Spirit's fightback, removing Jason Roy caught behind on review, the veteran batter back in the MI London side in place of skipper Sam Curran who sat out the match with muscle tightness as a precautionary measure.

Late hitting from Sherfane Rutherford propelled MI London past the 160 mark before the West Indian fell for 41 off 19 from the final ball of the innings. Rutherford's lusty blows looked to have given the hosts something to defend but the big hitting of Pretorius made light work of the chase and kept Spirit in the competition.

'Let's carry this momentum forward'

Meerkat Match Hero - Lhuan-dre Pretorius - on Sky Sports Cricket:

"I'm glad we got over the line. It's really good to get off the mark and hopefully we can carry this momentum forward.

"I batted for a while yesterday at training, I was working with DK [batting coach Dinesh Karthik] on that shot over short-fine and fine-leg and it paid off luckily. It also got me out but that's part of the game. I'm glad I could contribute to the team winning."

What's next in The Hundred?

Southern Brave host Birmingham Phoenix on Thursday, live on Sky Sports, with the women's match at 3pm followed by the men's fixture at 6.30pm. Watch The Hundred and more contract-free on NOW

(c) Sky Sports 2026: The Hundred: Trent Rockets hand Welsh Fire their first defeat of the season after Ben Duckett showing as Lhuan-dre Pretorius stars for London Spirit