BBL Match Highlights: Fourth consecutive win making the Heat dreaming of the final

Sydney Thunder and Brisbane Heat faced each other in an exciting match at Manuka Oval (Canberra) on Sunday night (January 31) in the Big Bash League 2020/21 (BBL 10) play-off knockout match. The Brisbane Heat won by 7 wickets against their opponent Sydney Thunder.

Brisbane Heat captain Chris Lynn won the flip-bat and elected to field, sending Sydney Thunder to bat.

The Thunder batsmen started losing their wickets regularly as soon as they started batting. As a result, they could not form any big partnership. In the end, Ben Cutting’s unbeaten 34 runs off 18 balls helped the Thunders to put 158 on their board losing six wickets in 20 overs. Ben Cutting (34*) and Sam Billings (34) scored some runs. Mitchell Swepson (2-28, 4 overs) and Mark Steketee (2-22, 3 overs) took the most wickets for the heat.

While coming to bat for chasing 159 runs, The Heat opener Joe Denly departed being bowled by Daniel Sams in the 2nd over. Then in the third over they lost another opener Chris Lynn and lost the momentum. They then returned to the match with a 56-run stand by Marnus Labuschagne and Sam Heazlett. Jimmy Peirson came to the wicket when Marnus Labushagne returned to the dressing room whilst the team total was 70 runs. Sam Heazlett and Jimmy Pearson’s 92-run stand guided them the way to home losing only 3 wickets with 5 balls to spare. Sam Heazlett made 74 runs off 49 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes and Jimmy Pearson made 43 runs off 24 balls with 2 fours and 3 sixes. Daniel Sams was the highest wicket for the Thunder (1-32, 4 overs).

The Sydney Thunder are out of the tournament after losing the match and the Brisbane Heat are still in the competition after winning the fourth match in a row. They will face Perth Scorchers in the play-off Challenger match on February 4 at Manuka Oval (Canberra).

Playing XIs:

Sydney Thunder – Usman Khawaja, Callum Ferguson (c), Alex Ross, Ben Cutting, Alex Hales, Sam Billings (wk), Daniel Sams, Adam Milne, Tanveer Sangha,  Chris Green, Brendan Doggett.

Brisbane Heat – Sam Heazlett, Joe Denly, Jimmy Peirson (wk), Joe Burns, Chris Lynn (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Lewis Gregory, Mitchell Swepson, Morne Morkel, Mark Steketee, Ben Laughlin.

Scoreboard:

Sydney Thunder – 158/8 (20)

Fall of wickets: 1-22 (Hales, 3.6 over); 2-62 (Khawaja, 8.5 over); 3-74 (Ferguson, 11.2 over); 4-107 (Billings, 14.5 over); 5-109 (Sams, 15.4 over); 6-110 (Ross, 15.6 over); 7-134 (Green, 18.1); 8-134 (Milne, 18.2 over)

Brisbane Heat – 162/3 (19.1)

Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Denly, 1.3 over); 2-14 (Lynn, 2.4 over); 3-70 (Labuschagne, 12 over)

Result – Brisbane Heat won by 7 wickets

Player of the Match – Sam Heazlett

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