BBL 2016/17: 5 defining moments from the Sydney Thunder vs Melbourne Stars last ball thriller

Sydney Thunder won their first match of this year’s BBL

After enduring four straight defeats, Big Bash defending champions Sydney Thunder got off the mark with their first victory of this season when they pulled off a last-ball victory against the Melbourne Stars. Opting to field after winning the toss, Thunder’s bowlers initially found themselves at the receiving end of the latter’s power-packed trio of Maxwell, Luke Wright and Kevin Pietersen and were in danger of conceding a huge total before making crucial inroads in the end overs to restrict them to 166.

In reply, Thunder lost their top three in the Powerplay but were resurrected by a stellar innings from Eoin Morgan to pick their first points of the season. Morgan, who was playing his last game of this edition before flying to India for the ODI series, finished the match with a six and was adjudged the ‘Player of the Match’.

Brief Scores: Melbourne Stars – 166/8 (Kevin Pietersen 60(37), Glenn Maxwell 34(22); Shane Watson 3/23(4), Chris Green 2/26(4), Fawad Ahmed 2/30(4));
Sydney Thunder – 166/4 (Eoin Morgan 71*(50), Kurtis Patterson 28(18); Ben Hilfenhaus 2/39(4))

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#5 Maxwell and Wright deal in boundaries

Maxwell scored a quick-fire 34 at the top of the order

Put into bat first, openers Glenn Maxwell and Luke Wright got Melbourne Stars off to a flying start. Off-spinner Chris Green opened the bowling for Thunder with a tidy five-run over. Thereafter, the pair dealt in boundaries, bringing up 40 in the first four overs.

Pat Cummins was welcomed by Maxwell with three boundaries while Russell was cut and flicked hard by Wright.

Gurinder Sandhu’s medium pace was also taken for runs as the duo threatened to run away with the game. However, Maxwell was dismissed on 28 by Thunder’s captain Shane Watson. His cheeky attempt to scoop Watson over short fine-leg only ended up in the hands of Patterson, who dived and picked the catch, inches from the ground.