The Analysis: The end of the road for Welsh Fire

Neither of Fire's opening batters - signed at the draft for £125,000 each - have made 125 runs as the Welsh side have watched their campaign fall apart

Trent Rockets against Welsh Fire brought together two sets of English opening batters: one pair in their latter years and established as world-class white-ball hitters, the other comprising a couple of the brightest young players in the country.

They could scarcely have endured more contrasting tournaments. Dawid Malan is the leading run-scorer in this year's competition, with Alex Hales fifth on the list. No one has hit more sixes than Malan, no one has hit more fours than Hales. You'd think – based on external perceptions, at least – that those statistics might be the other way round.

But Malan has found an additional gear to the more sedate starts that have characterised much of his international career, sometimes used to caveat his remarkable success in England's T20I side.

He gave Rockets a rapid start en route to a fourth fifty in eight matches. Hales, perhaps not at his very best despite having 251 runs to his name, has at times been content to play second fiddle.

For Welsh Fire, their troubles in this bleak, winless campaign have begun at the top. They pinned their hopes on the eye-catching opening partnership of Joe Clarke and Tom Banton, but that gamble hasn't paid off. Banton was dropped for a period, replaced by Jacob Bethell. Clarke has been ever-present as wicketkeeper, but neither have made it to 125 runs. At £125,000 each in the draft, each run has cost four figures.

Remarkably, neither have a strike rate of better than a run-a-ball, while Banton's average – 13.83 – is marginally higher than Clarke's.

^{Samit Patel picked up two wickets for Trent Rockets (Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)}

If there was any suggestion that they might finish the season on a high, with a reminder to those watching on of the ability that had first coaxed such faith at the draft table, then those thoughts were quickly extinguished. Banton was trapped in front by a full toss from Sam Cook, Clarke ran past a good delivery from Samit Patel. Both knocks were tortured affairs.

Particularly in Banton's case, given his early England caps and the clamour for his signature across the circuit when he first burst onto the scene, it has been difficult to watch his search for form. So much so that Matt Critchley's defiant half century, albeit in a cause that was already lost, was only Fire's second half century of the tournament. The first came from Ben Duckett, whose 220 runs are more than double the output of any of his teammates.

In short, that is why Gary Kirsten's men have gone the summer without a win: while their bowlers have hardly been prolific wicket-takers, they have been given little to work with. This was their highest score – 143 for 6 – over the eight games: only twice have they passed 129.

There have been contributing factors: Naseem Shah withdrew from the competition shortly before the start to leave Fire without a high-pace seamer, while the dimensions and surface at their home ground in Cardiff are hardly the ideal conditions for a limited-over team searching for a fast start.

Duckett, the sixth-highest run-scorer nationwide through the group stages, adapted best but even his game is centred on hitting square of the wicket, where the boundaries are at their longest in Cardiff.

^{Matt Critchley offered a fighting half century (Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)}

Rockets, meanwhile, have secured their place in the knockout rounds, with their success built on a Nottinghamshire core, four left-armers and Trent Bridge knowhow. Patel's celebration of Clarke's wicket showed his satisfaction at dismissing a county teammate, beating him in the flight with a delivery slower than the rest of the set that gripped and spun past his outside edge.

Beyond Malan and Hales, Colin Munro is an uber-aggressive left-hander, while few in the English game are more destructive than Tom Kohler-Cadmore, even if he is yet to fire in the competition. Ian Cockbain, a fine T20 batter in his own right, has hardly got out of the dugout. No doubt Welsh Fire, where he spent last year, would have benefited from his runs this time around.

With the ball, Tabraiz Shamsi has proven an adept replacement for Rashid Khan, adding a novel threat with his different angle and skillset. He only conceded 12 runs from his 20 deliveries, accounting for dangermen Duckett and David Miller.

Once they were gone, the game was up. And with that, so was Welsh Fire's disappointing month.

Related Topics

• Trent Rockets win to secure knockout spot