The Cricketer looks at the main talking points from the men's Hundred clash between Oval Invincibles and London Spirit
Sam Billings chose quite the night to finally find some batting form this summer.
It had been a lean season for the Kent captain, who skipped the Indian Premier League to play more red-ball cricket and ended up breaking from the sport entirely during July.
With Heinrich Klaasen having departed, Oval Invincibles needed a matchwinner with the bat and Billings was up to the challenge.
The standout moment of his innings came against Ish Sodhi, Having already sent him over the rope, Billings went one better with a 112-meter maximum which flew into the back of the second tier of the Kia Oval.
After that, there was no coming back for Trent Rockets.
What's more impressive? 🤯
— The Hundred (@thehundred) August 21, 2023
The huuuuge Sam Billings 6️⃣ or the crowd catch? 👏#TheHundred pic.twitter.com/rYQlXCJQTE
It was refreshing to see and hear Trent Rockets captain Lewis Gregory not pulling any punches in his post-match analysis of his side's title defence.
Not completely out of contention, but it is likely they'll be watching the weekend fixtures at the Kia Oval and Lord's from home.
Such is the volume of franchise cricket, with players moving from one lucrative contract to another, there is little accountability or emotional attachment to most sides.
So it was to the credit of Gregory, who plays his county cricket some 180 miles sound west of Nottingham, that he expressed some degree of regret while explaining his side's shortcomings.
"It is disappointing not qualifying in a competition," he said. "We've got a chance but we need every game to go our way. Tonight is the least frustrating one - there are a couple of games in the comp where we let ourselves down and probably should have won and we wouldn't be in this situation. That's sport, it is cut-throat and we're hoping for a few results to go our way.
"We've not got going in the powerplays with the bat (41 for 2 tonight), we've always been clutching back at games.
"And then our fielding we've dropped some chances that we should have taken. In high-quality tournaments like this, you've got to be on it in all three facets.
"We've still got a chance to qualify and we're nowhere near our best which is exciting and disappointing. There have been some tough moments as there always is in this format but on the whole, we've been pretty good with the ball."
Trent Rockets are clinging onto their title from 2022 (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
As mentioned above, the Rockets are not yet out of the competition but they need an extraordinary run of results to stay alive.
It has to start tomorrow night at Headingley, with Northern Superchargers denying Jonny Bairstow's Welsh Fire.
And then on Wednesday, they need second-place Manchester Originals, last term's runners-up, to beat the 2021 champions Southern Brave.
If the Rockets remain in the hunt they they'll all turn into Birmingham Phoenix fans when London Spirit at the visitors to Edgbaston in the final group match of 2023.
Come through all of that unscathed and you'll start thinking they can indeed become the first men's side to retain the title.
Remaining men's group fixtures:
Tuesday, August 22: Northern Superchargers v Welsh Fire (Headingley, 6.30pm)
Wednesday, August 23: Manchester Originals v Southern Brave (Emirates Old Trafford, 6.30pm)
Thursday, August 24: Birmingham Phoenix v London Spirit (Edgbaston, 6.30pm)
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