There was little doubt that batting first was going to be the key in this match at Spotless Stadium. The WBBL match beforehand was plagued by low, slow bounce that did for most of the Sixers top order, most of whom are also in Australia’s top order. It showed that you had to bat forward of the crease and play forward to succeed on the night, and that any total set above 140 was going to be extremely difficult to chase down.
Jos Buttler once again did the job, batting through to 18th over and ensured a decent total could be reached. He has not only become a terrific T20 cricketer but has been a terrific pick up for the Thunder over the past two seasons. His 55 off 54 balls was terrific under the conditions. So too was Cal Ferguson (42 off 30) once again until he copped the mully grubber from Agar. Chris Green finished it off well with 18 not out off 9 deliveries to get the total to 6/142, which looked too many.
Jhye Richardson has this season begun to show why the selectors have shown interest in him. He destroyed NSW in the Shield game in Perth in November, and he was awesome in the defeat of the Strikers in the BBL game there as well. Here on this low slow wicket he was fast. Swift. He followed Jason Sangha with a bouncer that smashed into his grille. It was frightening. The ball was clocked at 143kph but it looked much faster than that. He has some work still to do but his improvement over the last 12 months is impressive, and his raw pace looks to be increasing.
I still cannot believe Fawad Ahmed is not in Australian calculations, in every form of the game. He continues to bowl brilliantly and do the job every single game. Australia play a Test on a traditionally spin favoured wicket in Sydney tomorrow, and Fawad showed once again that he can do the job by taking 2/22 off 4 overs, just a few kilometres away at Homebush. He was not the only spin bowler to do well on the day, with Jono Cook bowling terrifically to finish with 1/13 off 4 and Chris Green with 1/32 from 4, but Fawad is the class wrist spinner that continues to do the job. He has no contract with Victoria this year, but still starred in their JLT Cup victory and has played most of the Shield games for the state as well and continues to star for the Thunder. For goodness sakes, sometimes you have to wonder just what the selectors are looking for.
The Scorchers were snuffed out by the spin attack on the dead wicket, falling to 5/54 in the 12th over and the match was practically finished. Ash Turner and Will Bosisto stuck to their task though, and with one over to go were still an outside chance to steal the match needing 20 runs. Turner took the strike and, aided by two boundaries and two wides from Daniel Sams, got the equation down to four required off the final delivery. He could only manage two, and the Thunder limped to a one run victory. Turner was terrific with 60 not out off 36 deliveries, and Bosisto finished on 23 not out off 21, and their unbeaten partnership being 87 from 53 deliveries.
The Scorchers now fall to one win and four losses, their worst ever start to a BBL competition. The fight is still there but their batting is under real pressure. The Thunder move to three wins and two losses, and their biggest problem is working out how they will replace Jos Buttler when he leaves to go back to international duties.
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