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Australian spinner Alana King has produced another extraordinary performance in The Hundred - but it proved all in vain for the Trent Rockets.
Australian star Alana King has delivered another record-breaking feat in her groundbreaking campaign in The Hundred - but her latest spinning masterpiece ultimately proved to no avail for the Trent Rockets at Nottingham.
The brilliant allrounder King achieved what no player had ever previously done in the English game's novel 100-ball-a-side format on Wednesday - delivering 10 consecutive deliveries in two blocks without conceding a single run.
Coming at a time in the game when Oval Invincibles seemed to be en route to the most straightforward of wins as they chased Rockets' disappointing 8-112, the Victorian's amazing spell changed the complexion of the entire contest.
But, eventually, King's heroics still proved not enough as the Invincibles took victory off the 99th and penultimate ball of the match at Trent Bridge to win by five wickets.
There was more brilliant legspin bowling from King, just like the tournament's historic first hat-trick that she'd snaffled four days earlier in the Rockets' win over Manchester Originals - a dazzling four-wicket performance she dedicated to the memory of Shane Warne.
If anything, the Commonwealth Games champ's performance in Wednesday's encounter was even more startling, though.
Invincibles, at 3-80 and needing just 33 from 40 balls to win with tough South African Marizanne Kapp at the crease, looked to be in total command.
But King pinned Kapp down for two consecutive blocks - effectively, back-to-back, five-ball maidens - with a variety of her flat sliders, leaving the South African increasingly frustrated as the Invincibles were left needing more than a run per ball by the time she finished.
The Australian World Cup winner finished her 20 balls, with the home crowd getting increasingly excited, having gone for just eight runs in total.
Kapp, though, kept her nerve and, with five needed off the final 10 balls, finally clocked the winning boundary off Bryony Smith's penultimate delivery.
Earlier, the Rockets had been indebted to Nat Sciver's 59no off 48 balls before Suzie Bates (41 from 32) and Alice Capsey (24 from 18) put the Invincibles well ahead of the required rate.
