Sydney Thunder beat the Perth Scorchers for the first time after a 20-run defeat at #TheFurnace in BBL|04 on Thursday night.South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis starred with bat and ball to lead the Thunder to victory in front of a sell-out crowd of 18,809 fans.
In reply to the Thunder’s 3-179, the Scorchers could only manage 5-159 to leave both sides with a 2-2 win-loss record.
Kallis appeared to be in trouble after he tweaked his right hamstring while setting off for a run when he was on 25. The 39-year-old struggled to run between wickets after that point, but he still managed some lofty strikes to finish with 70 off 49 balls.
Any thoughts of Kallis resting up during the Scorchers’ innings were dashed when it was revealed Andrew McDonald had suffered a more serious hamstring injury during his time at the crease.
Perth made a perfect start by racing to 0-26 inside three overs, but by the time Kallis had dismissed Adam Voges and Ashton Turner in the seventh over, the Scorchers were staring down defeat at 4-41.
Kallis finished with 2-24 from four overs, and he would have had the scalp of Sam Whiteman as well had Nathan Hauritz not dropped a sitter in the deep.
Thunder paceman Pat Cummins suffered a big scare when he slipped over while bowling his first delivery. But the 21-year-old was able to dust himself off and continue.
Paceman Gurinder Sandhu provided the comical moment of the match when his attempted slower ball landed four metres wide of the pitch.
Englishman Michael Carberry top-scored for the Scorchers with an unbeaten 69 off 48 balls, but it was slim pickings apart from that.
Earlier, Kallis was the hero with the bat, but Aiden Blizzard (47) and Mike Hussey (36no) also added handy runs to set the Scorchers a challenging run chase.
Spinner Ashton Agar, who is in the running to play against India in the fourth Test at the SCG next week, conceded 14 runs in his opening over. But the 19-year-old bounced back with the key scalp of Kallis before scoring an unbeaten 31 with the bat.
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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