Cricket Highlights, 13 Dec: BBL 2022/23 (Match 1) – Sydney Thunder vs Melbourne Stars

Sydney Thunder vs Melbourne Stars (Match 1) – Highlights

Sydney Thunder has secured a narrow 1-wicket victory over Melbourne Stars in the opening match of BBL 2022/23 which started yesterday (Tuesday). The bowlers of the team played an important role in their victory.

Sydney Thunder pacer Gurinder Sandhu was adjudged as the player of the match after taking 2 wickets with 23 runs in 4 overs with the ball first and playing an unbeaten 20-run cameo innings off 16 balls (2 fours and 1 six) at the end.

Sydney Thunder captain Jason Sangha won the toss and elected to field first at Manuka Oval in Canberra sending Melbourne Stars to bat. Stars were able to score 122 runs after losing 8 wickets in the allotted 20 overs by the bowling canon of the Thunder bowlers.

Star’s batsmen could not get off to a good start. Pacer Gurinder Sandhu struck first in their camp. He made wicketkeeper-batsman Joe Clarke (11) caught by Jason Sangha in the 3rd over for the team’s 24 runs. As a result, they scored only 31 runs after losing one wicket in 4 overs of Power Play 1.

Another opener Tom Rogers (14) returned to the dressing room on the first ball of the 5th over when the power play ended. After his departure, Joe Burns and Nick Larkin took the responsibilities to take the team forward. However, at the end of the 8th over, Burns left the field with a personal 18 runs due to a hamstring injury. But Marcus Stoinis, who came down to play instead, returned to the dressing room after scoring a golden duck.

The quick loss of wickets slowed down the Stars’ run rate a bit. At the end of 10 overs, the team score stood at 64 runs for 3 wickets. But the main collapse of the team was seen in Power Play 2. The team score went from 83 runs for 3 wickets to 97 runs for 7 wickets. Stars lost 4 wickets out to collect 15 runs and fell out of the match. After that, the batters of the Stars could not bring the team back into the match.

Larkin scored the highest 25 runs for the Stars. Apart from Gurinder Sandhu, Fazalhaq Farooqi and Daniel Sams took 2 wickets each for the Thunder. Besides, Chris Green and Brendan Doggett took 1 wicket each.

Chasing this easy target of 123 runs, the Thunder was under pressure from the beginning. Because wicket-keeper batsmen Matthew Gilkes and Rilee Rossouw went back to the dressing room before the team opened the runbook. However, another opener, Alex Hales, was dismissed for 16 runs off 12 balls. Besides, Jason Sangha scored 24 and Alex Ross returned to the pavilion with 28 runs.

At one time, after losing 7 wickets for the team’s 89 runs, it seemed that the Thunder were out of the match. But Chris Green and Gurinder Sandhu’s impeccable partnership of 26 runs in the 8th wicket brought them to the brink of victory. Thunder needed 8 runs from the last over to win. But when Beau Webster picked up two wickets in the first two balls of the over, Thunder was once again in danger of defeat.

Gurinder leveled the team’s score by hitting a six while 7 runs were needed on the last 3 balls. Even though the next ball was a dot, he took a single on the last ball and took the team to the goal of victory. Green returned to the dressing room after scoring 17 runs, but Gurinder left the field with the team winning the match.

Nathan Coulter-Nile took the maximum number of 3 wickets for the Stars. Besides, Beau Webster, Trent Boult, and spinner Adam Zampa took 2 wickets each. By winning this match, Sydney Thunder is now at the top of the points table. On the other hand, Melbourne Stars are at the bottom of the points table after losing the game.

Sydney Thunder vs Melbourne Stars Scoreboard

Melbourne Stars – 122/8 (20.0)

Sydney Thunder – 123/9 (20.0)

Result – Sydney Thunder won by 1 wicket

Player of the match – Gurinder Sandhu

Sydney Thunder vs Melbourne Stars Playing XIs