Perth Scorchers, Michael Klinger, scored an unbeaten 105 from 60 balls in Friday night’s 35-run win over the Melbourne Renegades, including hitting a six off the final delivery of the match to bring up his century.
Michael Klinger produced a swashbuckling century to lift the Perth Scorchers to their first win of the 2014-15 KFC T20 Big Bash League season over Melbourne Renegades at #TheFurnace on Friday night.
The Scorchers triumphed by 35 runs after Klinger blasted 105no off 60 balls, including a six off the last delivery to bring up his ton, helping Perth post an imposing 3-192.
Klinger, elevated to open ahead of English recruit Michael Carberry, received great support from Marcus Harris (53 off 39), as the pair combined for a club record opening partnership worth 103 runs.
The Renegades were always off the pace in reply, with the in-form Jason Behrendorff (2-16 from four overs) striking early, while Ashton Agar (2-22 from three overs) claimed the key wickets of Aaron Finch and Dwayne Bravo.
The big-hitting Andre Russell (43) top scored for the visitors who finished up 9-157 from their 20 overs in front of 18,207 fans.
“To be honest I was just thinking about trying to hit a six or four, trying to get those extra runs for the team at the back end,” said Klinger on the final ball six to reach his ton. “If I tried to get a single I wouldn’t have lived it down.
“I was trying to get the most runs for the team, if it came off it came off, if not, then so be it. It was a great day all round.”
Brad Hogg has missed the first two matches of BBL|04, but Klinger believes he is close to a return.
“He was probably 50-50 yesterday and they didn’t want to risk him for the rest of the tournament,” Klinger informed. “He’s come over to Sydney with us, so hopefully if he gets through the next couple of days of training then he might be okay.
“I don’t think they want to risk him because if he hurts his hamstring again he’ll be out for the majority of the tournament. I think he’s close to being fit.”
And, on his own international team hopes?
“You never know,” he said. “It’s always in the back of my mind, it’s something I want to achieve and keep performing well and hopefully that’ll happen one day.
“The short formats, the one-day and T20, have been kind to me over the past four to five years, so you never know, but there’s a lot of good cricketers around Australia,” he continued. “You’ve got to keep performing and be in the right place at the right time.”
James Buttler
As the editor of World Cricket Badger he is intent on building the website to give quality coverage of the domestic game around the world.
He is also the presenter of the Cricket Badger Radio Show on Radio Yorkshire every Tuesday evening between 7-9pm UK time.
James was the full-time Media Manager at Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 2007 and 2010.
James is a published author, a writer/video contributor to many cricket publications and a complete cricket badger!
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