Root stars as Welsh Fire beat Phoenix by seven wickets

Welsh Fire are back on the winning trail after a commanding performance against a misfiring Birmingham Phoenix outfit, whose familiar failings with the bat have put them all but out of contention for the latter stages. 

Two days after being confirmed as England men's full-time Test skipper once again, Root's effortlessly composed (58no) anchored the Fire's chase, taking his new franchise home with four balls still in hand.

He shared a telling opening stand with Phil Salt, who raced to 46 from 36 balls with four sixes before being trapped in front by Mitch Owen (1-9).

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Rachin Ravindra (7) then joined Root but he never got going on a crabby pitch, and it was no surprise when Chris Wood (1-21) induced a cross-bat hoick as Ravindra looked in vain to push on.

His dismissal, with the Fire still needing 42 from 31, brought Jordan Cox (20) to the crease. Cox has been short of runs so far this campaign but he showed good touch, seeing off the impressive Pakistani off-spinner Usman Tariq (0-23) and punching his way to 20 to take the game deep.

Cox had a fruitful game. Earlier, the Fire keeper executed two brilliant catches to snare the wickets of Owen for 18 and Joe Clarke - the only Phoenix batter to find any real fluency - for 35. Rehan Ahmed (13) flickered briefly, but he fell to a smart piece of fielding from Salt, the second player to be run out in that middle third as the Phoenix's innings ran aground.

The Fire's variety in their bowling stocks was again on show: today it was the turn of Marco Jansen and Lockie Ferguson to share two wickets apiece. They used five bowlers; all of them internationals.

While a total of 137 was never likely to be enough with Root in this form, the home side - playing in front of co-owner and local hero Jude Bellingham - scrapped hard to stay in the contest.

When Mahmood burst through Cox's swipe to clean-bowl him, it left the Fire still needing six from seven balls. Cue the master. Root's latest trick, the impish lofted scoop off a good length ball, settled matters to take the Fire joint top.

'We were ruthless'

Joe Root speaking on Sky Sports Cricket:

"That is how you want to play cricket, being ruthless and getting it done at the end.

"We've got a lot of depth in different areas, a lot of bases covered and good variety in our attack.

"We've also got a good understanding of how we want to chase down totals, and if we can find a way to make Cardiff a very difficult place to come and play in particular, then it will go a long way to ensuring we get through to the back-end of the tournament."

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