James Bazley’s 4-for-22 and Colin Munro’s 98 on 53 balls gave the Sydney Thunder an 11-run victory at Carrara Oval in Queensland on Thursday (December 29) to beat the Brisbane Heat. Both were in vain as he broke and hit a double. After posting a 182/6 when asked to go first, the Thunder won the Heat with a 171/9 for their third win in five games. Nathan McAndrew was the Thunder’s star bowler, going 4-31.
While Alex Hales was sacked for his 11-ball 9, the Thunder were given solid ground by Matthew Gilks and Riley Rosew, helping the team steadily move forward over half a century. Though their partnership batting just over 120, Gilkes and Rossouw confirmed that mid-tier hitters need to be on the platform to go big in deathovers. Alex Ross played 25 of 12 useful hands, but with 136/4 by the end of 17 overs, Thunder needed an explosive innings to help them finish well. Daniel Sams did just that when he hit out for 36 knots on 15 balls including two 4s and four 6s. Mitchells Wepson in 18 overs he scored 21, Mark Stiketty in his 19th over he scored 17 and Sams took effect with his hold on long. Bazley retained it in the final, also sacking two wickets, but the Thunder completed his challenge for the Heat over his 180 wall.
The chase didn’t start off well for the Heat, who lost Max Bryant and Matt Renshaw in the first few overs. Munro won the majority of the points, but did not get much support from the other side as Sam Billings, Jimmy Peirson and Ross Whiteley were all sacked for individual points.
Nevertheless, Munro controlled the innings well and the Heat reached 111/5 by the end of 12 overs. But Chris Green and Usman Qadir didn’t concede a single boundary, and the Thunder missed 49 of their final four in a fantastic four-over period. Bazley had six RBIs in 17 innings against Sams and four RBIs in 18 against Qadir before being ejected. Coming out of the final 16 as McAndrew sacked three wickets to lead his side to victory.