Sydney Thunder wins men's Big Bash League final
Sydney Thunder completed their fairytale
rise from Big Bash League also-rans to champions, with a tense
three-wicket win against Melbourne Stars in the final at the MCG.
Competing in their first BBL final after finishing last on three
occasions, Thunder rode Usman Khawaja’s coat tails – he made 70 off 40
balls – to chase down Stars’ total of 9-176 with three balls to spare in
front of 47,672 fans on Sunday.
Ben Rohrer landed the final blow of an epic encounter, hitting the winning runs with a straight six off the third ball of Daniel Worrall’s last over.
Stars kept themselves in the contest with late wickets but the damage was done earlier when Khawaja and Jacques Kallis (28 runs off 27 balls) laid the foundation with an 86-run opening partnership.
With two unbeaten centuries from three BBL innings going into the final, Khawaja was always the dangerman in the Thunder line-up and he didn’t disappoint.
He survived a huge shout for lbw on 37 that replays showed had a lot of merit, but his classy innings underlined his stellar run of form.
The highly-entertaining, see-sawing affair was a fitting send-off for retiring Thunder skipper Mike Hussey in his last game on Australian soil.
Ben Rohrer landed the final blow of an epic encounter, hitting the winning runs with a straight six off the third ball of Daniel Worrall’s last over.
Stars kept themselves in the contest with late wickets but the damage was done earlier when Khawaja and Jacques Kallis (28 runs off 27 balls) laid the foundation with an 86-run opening partnership.
With two unbeaten centuries from three BBL innings going into the final, Khawaja was always the dangerman in the Thunder line-up and he didn’t disappoint.
He survived a huge shout for lbw on 37 that replays showed had a lot of merit, but his classy innings underlined his stellar run of form.
The highly-entertaining, see-sawing affair was a fitting send-off for retiring Thunder skipper Mike Hussey in his last game on Australian soil.
