In front of a bumper crowd, the two teams produced the highest scoring match in The Hundred history, as the Phoenix set a blistering pace with the bat, posting a daunting total of 214 for five.
In reply, Trent Rockets went hard from the off and remained in the game until some fine death bowling from the Phoenix made it an opening night victory for the men.
Ferreira, who scored an unbeaten 22 off nine balls towards the end of the innings, was pleased with how his side kept calm when the Rockets threatened to chase down the mammoth total.
“We put a really good score on the board,” he said. “It was a really good wicket and we knew the ball was going to fly around.
“It was just important to stick to our plans and stay as calm as possible for as long as possible.
“We've got a very skilful and diverse bowling lineup, so it makes it quite easy for us to chop and change at the back end, but you've got to just keep looking at the scoreboard.
“They needed to bat at as good as 12 runs an over pretty much the whole game if you look at a normal T20 format, so that made us really nice and calm.”
Phoenix were put into bat with Joe Clarke (68) and Will Smeed (51) combining to put on 104 off 49 balls. Rehan Ahmed then added 48 off 25 as the Phoenix reached the second-highest total since The Hundred began.
In reply, Ben Duckett (49), Finn Allen (43) and Tom Banton (67) all kept the Rockets in contention, but key wickets from Usman Tariq, who picked up two for 36, and Scott Currie (two for 40), saw their chase end on 204.
Ferreira is hoping his team can carry that form into their next fixture when they take on Manchester Super Giants at Emirates Old Trafford on Sunday.
“I think for us it’s important to take this momentum into the next game but to understand that there's a new challenge coming,” he added.
“It's important that we reassess when we get there with different conditions and another challenging team.
“We have a motto; never too high, never too low. To still learn when we're winning and obviously to learn when we're losing as well. It's good to have a win under the belt first game in our home stadium as well.”
Phoenix Women endured a difficult start to their The Hundred competition, losing by nine wickets to the Rockets earlier in the day.
Captain Ellyse Perry top-scored with 39 from 33 balls but couldn’t inspire her side as they were dismissed for 64, before an unbeaten 43 by Sophia Dunkley saw the Rockets over the line with 69 balls remaining.
“You have those games sometimes in franchise cricket, but it's obviously a real shame that it happened for us first up,” Perry said.
“We just couldn't get on a roll with the bat and obviously lost lots of wickets early on there.
“It just didn't come together, which is difficult to take, but we've got another chance pretty quickly which is good.”
Phoenix Women’s game against Manchester Super Giants gets under way on Sunday 26 July at 11:00am, before Phoenix Men play at 2:30pm.
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