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Sydney Thunder 6 for 142 (Buttler 55, Ferguson 42, Agar 2-27) beat Perth Scorchers 5 for 141 (Turner 60*, Fawad 2-22) by one run
Sydney Thunder mastered the art of batting on a slow surface, but were made to sweat by a brilliant 36-ball unbeaten 60 from Ashton Turner, as they scraped through by one run in a nailbiting finish against Perth Scorchers.
On a used surface that had already hosted the WBBL’s Sydney derby earlier in the day, Thunder put up 142 in a wonderfully constructed innings. Calum Ferguson provided them with the early impetus with a 30-ball 42 that offset the early advantage conceded through the wicket of Shane Watson, the captain. Jos Buttler held up his end to shield them against a middle-overs slowdown, triggered by the loss of three wickets for 13 runs, to ensure the runs kept trickling in. And Chris Green chimed in with a nine-ball 18 that gave the innings a serious lift.
With the possibility of the surface slowing down further in the second innings, little doubt lingered at the halfway stage that this would be a match-winning total. But Turner almost made everyone believe otherwise, launching a stunning late assault that almost turned the tables on the Thunder. With 20 to get off the last over, Turner took Scorchers to the brink, but fell heartbreakingly short, with four required off the last ball.
As a result, Scorchers were left languishing at seventh place, with a solitary win after five matches. Thunder’s narrow escape helped them climb two positions to second.
Trading blows
Given the wear on the surface already before the start of the game, Shane Watson wasn’t going to risk chasing, and promptly opted to bat first. Although Watson himself couldn’t ride the early phase, characterised by swing both ways, sometimes of the late variety, Buttler and Ferguson validated his decision at the toss.
With Watson having toe-ended one that stopped on him a tad back to Jason Behrendorff, Ferguson and Buttler kept the damage to a minimum with a brief burst of boundaries. Ferguson especially showed how well he had sussed out the pace of the surface by waiting for the ball to come onto him and playing really late – characterised by his late cut to Andrew Tye that split backward point and third man. Buttler, in the meantime, had already brought out his innovations that were a handy on this surface if you knew your fields, scooping Behrendorff over fine leg for six, and jabbing Tye for a drive between cover and extra cover. Between overs three and six, the two pinched 30 runs. It meant that by the end of the Powerplay, Thunder were already on the ascendancy.
Full report to follow
Akshay Gopalakrishnan is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo