The Trent Rockets finished third in the last edition of The Hundred and have the pedigree to do even better in The Hundred 2022.
Though the Trent Rockets finished only behind title-winners Southern Brave and Birmingham Phoenix in the previous edition of The Hundred, the Trent Bridge side has the pedigree to do even better this time around.
They have strengthened their squad even further by signing two in-form players in Colin Munro (878 runs off his last 28 T20 innings) and rising England all-rounder Ben Mike (15 wickets and 213 runs in T20 Vitality Blast).
The Rockets are going to play the first game of their Hundred 2022 campaign against the Birmingham Phoenix on 06 August.
If the new additions perform well and the 3 proper game-changers listed here are able to hit form, the Trent Rockets have a great chance of lifting The Hundred 2022 title.
Trent Rockets: Players to watch out for
3. Alex Hales
England Cricket Team’s first-ever T20I centurion, 33-year-old Alex Hales is the batsman around which the whole batting line-up of the Trent Rockets will revolve for The Hundred 2022.
Following his lean run in the previous edition of The Hundred, Hales found a lot of success in the 2021 BBL where he scored 384 runs –including 59 boundaries– at an average of 32. More recently, Hales scored a blistering 91 off 33 in the 2022 Vitality Blast.
Trent Rockets will rely on the destructive batter for the bulk of their scoring, especially inside the first 25 balls. Trent’s odds of winning The Hundred 2022 title aside, a successful campaign may also see him make it to England’s T20 WC 2022 squad at the expense of an out-of-form Jason Roy.
2. Marchant de Lange
Second on our list of Trent Rockets players to keep an eye out for The Hundred 2022 is the South African pacer, Marchant de Lange.
The imposing quick was the heart and soul of the Rockets’ bowling attack last season, taking 12 wickets from 7 matches to end the tournament as the 2nd highest wicket-taker.
The out-and-out pace of de Lange can hurry the best of the batsmen as it did last season. In addition, the RSA-born bowls some deceptive slower ones that often catch the batters by surprise.
He is the only player to have taken a five-for in the T10 league and The Hundred, and that speaks volumes about the lesser-known but highly-effective Marchant de Lange. He’ll spearhead Trent Rockets’ pace-bowling department.
1. Rashid Khan
Rashid Khan is always the player to watch out for, no matter which league or side he features in. The same will be the case when he represents Trent Rockets in The Hundred 2022.
The 23-year-old Rashid scalped 12 and 19 wickets in the last edition of The Hundred and IPL 2022 respectively. By a comfortable margin, the Gujrat Titans vice-captain was the best overseas spinner in both the franchise-cricket leagues.
Rashid is economical, takes wickets, and more importantly- has made it habitual to churn out some game-changing cameos with the bat.
The Afghan spinner will be replaced by SA’s Tabraiz Shamsi for the last few games. But until then, he will be the trump card of the Rockets in the middle overs. Most of the batters in the competition are non-Asian and thereby likely to be sub-par against quality spin. They may find it hard to read the subtle variations of ‘Karamati Khan’, as they like to call him.
Rashid Khan was one of the 10 players that the Trent Rockets retained for The Hundred 2022.