‌BBL 13 | Hales’ gritty knock in vain as well-rounded Scorchers bounce back with a stellar win against Thunder

‌BBL 13 | Hales’ gritty knock in vain as well-rounded Scorchers bounce back with a stellar win against Thunder

SportsCafe Desk

By SportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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The Perth Scorchers bounce back with a seven-wicket victory against the Sydney Thunder in a tricky Sydney Showground Stadium surface. Alex Hales’ fighting 72 went in vain as Zak Crawley teamed up with the middle order to ease the chase while Ashton Agar stunned with career-best BBL figures.

The Perth Scorchers bowlers backed their captain’s decision to bowl first in the Sydney Showground Stadium by bowling in tight lines. Sydney Thunder openers, Cameron Bancroft and Alex Hales scored 27 runs inside the powerplay and soon the former was run out in the seventh over. Tom Kohler-Cadmore supported Hales (55-ball 72) in stitching a 53-run second wicket stand before falling short of the crease in the 12th over. Soon, Ashton Agar built pressure in the middle order, removing Matthew Gilkes and Alex Ross. Eventually, Hales looked like a lone warrior for his side but departed in the final over of the innings with the Thunder reaching 137/8 in the end. For the Scorchers, Agar ended up with exquisite figures of 4-1-6-2. 

In reply, the Scorchers got off to a steady start as Zak Crawley and Sam Whiteman piled up 43 runs for the opening stand in six overs. After the departure. Stand-in captain, Aaron Hardie entered the fray but struggled to time the ball against the Thunder bowlers. Both batters joined hands and added 44 runs before Nathan McAndrew outsmarted Hardie in the 13th over to make the contest evenly poised. Tanveer Sangha and the medium-pacers kept things tight and did not let runs leak with ease until the 16th over. Subsequently, the tourists opted for the Power Surge and gathered 18 runs for the loss of Crawley at 56-ball 58. But the damage was already done as Josh Phillipe and Laurie Evans chased down the required 13 runs within the final couple of overs with five balls to spare. 

The Twitterverse followed the game closely and here's what they expressed:

What are you turning? Red ball would go past slips!

Good win!

Yupe!!!

Crawley played a brilliant knock!

Great victory!

Great knock in vain!

Agreed!

Hope they do it!

What a day for him!

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