MARCHANT de Lange claimed the first five-for of the competition and Dawid Malan and D’Arcy Short made unbeaten half-centuries as Trent Rockets eased to a comfortable victory over Southern Brave as a crowd just short of 13,000 enjoyed Trent Bridge’s first taste of The Hundred.

Malan’s 62 off 43 balls and Short’s 51 off 41 saw the Rockets knock off a modest target of 127 with nine wickets and 18 deliveries to spare after the powerful South African bowler had shown that raw pace can still be a potent weapon in short-format cricket, finishing with five for 20 from 20 deliveries.

Ross Whiteley top-scored with 39 for the Brave, but with no other batter passing 21 their total always looked inadequate on a good surface.

Having chosen to bat first, Brave struggled to 56 for four at halfway, having lost James Vince for a duck to a superb Luke Wood yorker.

Davies hit Lewis Gregory straight to extra cover and after off-spinner Joe Root had pinned them down by conceding only seven runs from 10 balls, Brave’s top order fell apart as De Lange dismissed three batters in the space of eight deliveries.

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Delroy Rawlins was caught at short cover and Colin de Grandhomme bowled round his legs in De Lange’s first set of five, the South African returning to have Conway caught behind. When Root then bowled Liam Dawson, the Brave were in trouble at 71 for six from 65.

Whiteley fought back with sixes off Rashid Khan and Wood before twice driving the Afghanistan leg spinner for four down the ground. But De Lange returned to pick up two more wickets in his last five as Chris Jordan was caught on the hook and George Garton bowled making room.

In an eventful start to the Rockets’ chase, Garton opened with a freakish beamer to Short, but the left-armer recovered to clean up local favourite Alex Hales for a first-ball duck.

By contrast, the rest of the innings was drama-free. At halfway, Rockets were 68 without further loss, needing 59 from 50 balls, which meant Malan and Short could be content to deal in singles and not chase risky boundaries.

Nonetheless, the balls that deserved to be hit were duly hit, Malan celebrating his fifty with an uppercut six off Jordan. The end came when Short - who was twice caught off free hits early in his innings - launched the 81st ball over the long-on boundary off Dawson before stroking the next into the covers for the winning run.