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Rehan Ahmed continued his fine form before Trent Rockets made hard work of a three-wicket victory over Birmingham Phoenix at Trent Bridge. Leg-spinner Ahmed took an immaculate 3-15 as Phoenix were restricted to 111-9 on a slow pitch and then hit 37 from 23 balls at number three to break the back of the chase.He was caught at deep square leg to start a collapse of 4-11 and, when Marcus Stoinis and Sam Hain followed, England’s Jacob Bethell was left with six runs to defend from the last five balls.Left-arm spinner Bethell conceded only one from the next two balls, but Ben Cox swept the penultimate ball for four to seal victory.Rockets were already guaranteed a place in Saturday’s eliminator and had to only avoid a heavy defeat to secure second in the table.While the stodgy pitch and edgy batting performance means Rockets built little momentum before their meeting with Northern Superchargers, the showing of 21-year-old Ahmed continues to offer great encouragement for franchise and country. After an impressive summer for Leicestershire, Ahmed now has 10 wickets in The Hundred at an economy with 6.76 – the second best of any bowler to have played more than four matches behind Jofra Archer.Here he had opener Will Smeed bowled with a googly via an inside edge for 23, Bethell caught reverse sweeping to backward point for a three-ball duck and Benny Howell slog-sweeping to deep mid-wicket for three as Phoenix’s scoring ground to a halt after reaching 42-1 after 28 balls. With the bat he dazzled with five fours and one six – the only time a Rockets batter cleared the boundary in the chase – and put on 64 for the second wicket with Joe Root, who made a run-a-ball 25.After the eliminator, and potentially Sunday’s final, Ahmed will link up with England for their white-ball series against South Africa, having already secured an international recall.
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