The grudge match between Brisbane Heat and Sydney Thunder was stolen by a riveting Daniel Sams knock turning the game on its head to give Thunder their first win in the Big Bash League this season. Chasing 179, Thunder were in no shape to win the game till halfway point in the innings, losing 5 wickets for just 80 runs. With 77 required from the final seven, Sams and former Brisbane mainstay, Ben Cutting, stepped on the accelerator to bring the equation down to 32 in the final three overs.
Redemption seeker Ben Cutting, who had a massive fallout with the Brisbane management ahead of the season, failed to seal the game and was undone by a slower ball in the 18th over by Mark Steketee.
With Cutting gone, on song Sams took it upon himself and cleared the rope with four huge sixes in the penultimate over to close off the game singlehandedly with 7 balls remaining. He was adjudged the Man of the Match for his all-round efforts with the ball and the bat.
It could so easily have been Jack Wildermuth’s night
Before Daniel Sams stole the show with his stellar innings, this match was all about Jack Wildermuth, and it could have been that way if Heat had been able to get their yorkers right.
When Jack Wildermuth came out to bat in the first innings, Heat were suffering from a momentum issue. Barring the over from young Tanveer Sangha where Chris Lynn scored 16 runs, Heat had barely anything to show till then in terms of batting with intent.
When Wildermuth walked into bat in the 18th over, Heat were reeling at 140/4. Coming off the India vs Australia A match with a century, he took a couple of balls to adjust and then battered most bowlers in the Thunder line-up to score 31 off just 11 balls. This propelled Heat to 177 in a space of 12 balls before he was caught at short third man off a miscued slog.
If that wasn’t enough, Wildermuth picked up three wickets in his first spell. Opening the bowling for the first time, he moved the ball in with the angle and made it immensely difficult for the batsmen to target him in the powerplay. Wildermuth bowled Alex Hales through the gate, drew Callum Ferguson into a false shot, and got Usman Khawaja to edge one to the keeper to put his team in a fine position, in the early part of the chase.
Thunder’s middle-order get their act together
There is no doubt about who won Thunder the game. But the patient rebuild was started by the middle order who picked the correct balls to go after and kept the scoreboard busy without taking unnecessary risks. Alex Ross was impressive in particular, mixing incredible timing and effective power hitting. Unfortunately, he had to depart looking for the big shots due to his groin niggle but was ably backed up by the efforts of Baxter Holt and Ben Cutting who scored 23 and 29 respectively. They desperately tried to build a foundation and got out trying to accelerate.
I am Daniel Sams…and I didn’t wanna get a duck
In the post-match presentation, Daniel Sams said that he had been working hard with Ponting to clear the boundary. It showed as Sams cleared the ropes for the seventh time in the innings to seal the game with seven balls to spare. He had gone through a lean patch in the last edition of BBL and stated that he did not want to get a duck and was not flustered by the early losses in the Thunder's innings.
The hitting part was aided by the Heat’s bowlers missing their yorkers time and again throughout the final overs as Sams kept dispatching the full tosses over cow corner.
It can be very easy to forget after that stellar batting display that Sams is a proper asset in the bowling department for any T20 franchise, one who can bowl and deliver at any time of the innings. He bowled the final over today as well in the first innings, picking up the prized wicket of a solid-looking Wildermuth and kept it to just seven runs in that over.
In conclusion
Sydney Thunder registered their first win in this competition, picking up three points against the Brisbane side. On the other hand, while Heat looked on course to win the game for the majority of the match, they would be going back to the nets to work on their execution in the final overs. Having said that, all is not lost considering Heat did very well to change their approach from the last game to put on runs aggressively in the opening overs. Heat have ample time before they play their next game against the Strikers on 23rd December and if today was any indication, they will look to bounce back in the most aggressive manner.
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