AUSTRALIA: Riding on a half-century by Alex Hales and clinical performance by bowlers, Sydney Thunder defeats Hobart Hurricanes by 9 wickets. Sydney Thunder is now on a 6-match winning streak. Sydney Thunder is now at the 2nd spot in the Big Bash League points table and they have the best run rate among all the other teams in the league.
In this match after winning the toss, Hobart Hurricanes decided to bat first. Caleb Jewell and Ben McDermott were opening the innings for Hobart Hurricanes. Nathan McAndrew removed Caleb Jewell (4) to give Sydney Thunder their first breakthrough. Peter Handscomb joined Ben McDermott after the fall of the first wicket.
Peter Handscomb and Ben McDermott’s Partnership
Peter Handscomb and Ben McDermott had a 53 runs partnership between them before Nathan McAndrew once again came and gave Sydney Thunder the breakthrough. Ben McDermott scored 38 runs off 34 deliveries which included 3 fours and 1 six.
After the departure of Ben McDermott, Sydney Thunder lost two quick wickets in the form of Harry Brook (2) and Peter Handscomb (21). Sydney Thunder was 78/4 after 12.6 overs.
Hobart Hurricanes were struggling with their run rate in this batting innings as most of their batsmen were scoring runs at a strike rate of less than 120. D’Arcy Short and Tim David built a partnership of 24 runs between them but they weren’t scoring runs at a brisk rate. D’Arcy Short scored 29 runs off 24 deliveries which included 3 fours whereas Tim David scored 15 runs off 14 deliveries which included 1 four.
Jordan Thompson (15*) belted 2 sixes at the end of Hobart Hurricanes innings to take their total score to 139/6 after the completion of 20 overs.
For Sydney Thunder, Nathan McAndrew and Gurinder Sandhu took 2 wickets each while Tanveer Sangha and Daniel Sams took 1 wicket each.
Sydney Thunder openers looked like they were playing on a completely different track. Alex Hales and Matthew Gilkes added 34 runs for the opening wicket. D’Arcy Short was the partnership breaker as he got the wicket of Matthew Gilkes who scored 19 runs off 17 deliveries which included 4 fours and Sydney Thunder was 34/1 after 5 overs.
Jason Sangha joined Alex Hales in the middle after the fall of the first wicket. Alex Hales looked a bit off uncertain at first but after he got settled he punished the Hobart Hurricanes bowlers with his batting.
Alex Hales back-to-back fifties for Sydney Thunder
Alex Hales was just dealing in boundaries and he also brought up his half-century. In the 17th over, Alex Hales scored 18 runs against Riley Meredith. Alex Hales scored 3 fours and 1 six in that over. Jason Sangha finished the match by hitting a boundary in the 18th over and Sydney Thunder chased down the target in 17.2 overs.
Alex Hales scored an unbeaten 80 runs off 56 deliveries which included 11 fours and 1 six whereas Jason Sangha scored an unbeaten 35 runs off 31 deliveries which included 1 four and 1 six. They both stitched up a 106 runs partnership to seal the match for the Sydney Thunder.
For Hobart Hurricanes, D’Arcy Short was the only bowler who got a wicket whereas all the other bowlers were wicketless.
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