BBL 2020-21, Sydney Thunder v Perth Scorchers: Who won today's Big Bash League match?
The Sydney Thunder emerged victorious by seven wickets when they locked horns with the Perth Scorchers in the BBL. With this defeat, the Perth Scorchers are yet to pick up a win in their first three games, with one of their matches being washed out.
Captain Callum Ferguson helped the Thunder chase the target of 152 runs set by Perth Scorchers. Mitchell Marsh was the highest-scoring player for the Scorchers with his knock of 52*.
BBL 2020-21: What happened in the first innings?
The Sydney Thunder won the toss and invited the Scorchers to bat first in the 12th BBL game of the season. Adam Milne bowled probing deliveries in the power play overs, and the Scorchers failed to get off to a flying start. They lost their opener, Josh Inglis, in the fifth over to Nathan McAndrew.
Joe Clarke, who came in at no. 3, failed to trouble the scorers as he was dismissed for a duck. Walking in with his team in a spot of bother, Mitchell Marsh played a mature innings (52* off 41 balls).
At the ten-over point, the Scorchers were going below six runs per over as they only managed to put 56 runs on the board. They got some much-needed momentum when they took the BBL power surge in the 11th over.
The Perth-based outfit managed to add 30 runs in two overs, but they lost captain Ashton Turner (23 of 14 balls) in the process.
Cameron Bancroft played the role of a finisher after coming in at no. 7 as he scored 34 off 26 deliveries. However, he would have liked to get some more boundaries away in the end overs. The Thunder restricted the Scorchers to 152-5 in their 20 overs.
Click here to get the updated BBL stats of 2020-21.
BBL 2020-21: How did the Sydney Thunder go about their chase?
Alex Hales once again failed at the top of the order in the BBL as he was clean bowled for a duck by Jason Behrendorff in the first over. Like the Scorchers, the Thunder too made a slow start to their innings. After six overs, they had only managed 32 runs on the board as Usman Khwaja and Callum Ferguson took a cautious approach to the game.
Khwaja was given a reprieve by the umpire as he was caught behind off a delivery from Andrew Tye, but the umpire failed to spot a regulation edge to the keeper. However, Khwaja was unable to punish the Scorchers as he was soon dismissed by Aaron Hardie for a sluggish 21 off 25 deliveries.
Oliver Davies played a crucial knock of 36 runs after joining captain Ferguson in the middle. He was stumped off a Fawad Ahmed delivery, but he had brought the rising run rate well under control by then.
Ferguson played the anchor role to perfection even though he was given a lifeline by some of the Scorchers fielders. The captain finished with 61 off 53 balls and guided his team home with the help of Ben Cutting (29 off 16) and the Thunder picked up another win in the BBL.