The Hundred men’s competition, Edgbaston
Birmingham Phoenix 137-9 (100 balls): Clarke 35 (23); Ferguson 2-20, Jansen 2-21
Welsh Fire 138-3 (96 balls): Root 58* (40); Wood 1-21
Welsh Fire won by seven wickets
Joe Root scored an unbeaten half-century to guide Welsh Fire to a controlled seven-wicket win over bottom side Birmingham Phoenix.
In his first match since being reappointed as England’s Test captain on Thursday, Root struck each of his first three deliveries for four and top-scored with 58 (40) as Fire chased 138 with four balls to spare.
Root enjoyed a 77-run first-wicket partnership with Phil Salt, who struck four sixes in his 46 (36). Salt survived being caught off the third ball of the innings – bowler Saqib Mahmood was penalised for a front-foot no ball – but had no luck when reviewing his lbw dismissal.
Rachin Ravindra was also out lbw before Jordan Cox was bowled by Mahmood for 20 (14) with Welsh Fire six runs shy of victory. Root fittingly hit the winning runs, reverse-scooping for four before jogging the winning single.
A third win of the summer moves Welsh Fire from fifth to second in the table, trailing Trent Rockets on net run-rate. Birmingham Phoenix have now lost three consecutive matches since winning their opener and remain eighth.
Electing to bat first, Phoenix raced beyond 50 inside the powerplay, Joe Clarke dispatching Sam Cook’s final five balls for 20 runs, but saw their innings implode from 53-1 to 79-5, including a dismal spell of three wickets for nine runs.
Cox completed two relay catches on the boundary to account for Mitch Owen and Clarke, who top-scored with 35 (23), while poor decision-making saw Laurie Evans and Rehan Ahmed run out in quick succession.
Donovan Ferreira injected some brief impetus, hitting Ravindra for back-to-back sixes before holing out for 23 (21), with Sean Dickson, Chris Wood and Scott Currie also departing as Phoenix limped to 137-9.
Lockie Ferguson and Marco Jansen finished with two wickets apiece.
