Sydney Thunder 7 for 209 (Sams 98*, Hales 63, Richardson 2-39) beat Melbourne Renegades 80 (Seymour 25, Hasnain 3-22, Sandhu 2-8, Sangha 2-12) by 129 runs
Daniel Sams and a rejuvenated Alex Hales destroyed Melbourne Renegades at Marvel Stadium to set up red-hot Sydney Thunder's fifth-straight BBL victory.
An almost flawless Thunder (7-3) stormed to second on the ladder after Sams (98 not out off 44 balls) and Hales (63 off 28) powered them to a massive 7 for 209 after being sent in. Their disciplined bowlers then tore through meek Renegades batting as Thunder cemented their standing as the BBL's in-form team.
The crushing 129-run victory - the third heaviest in BBL history - was made even more impressive for Thunder after stand-in captain Chris Green was a late withdrawal due to being a close contact of a person who tested positive for Covid-19.
The Hales-Sams show
Thunder have emerged as a serious title contender even without Hales firing. The English import had a highest score this season of just 35 and also missed a couple of matches due to testing positive to Covid-19.
But Hales was always going to emerge from the rut and he did so with trademark pyrotechnics featuring five sixes. The opener needed just 17 balls to surpass his previous best of the season, relishing the short boundaries and launching several slog sweeps into the second tier of the grandstands.
He was especially ruthless against Afghanistan's Zahir Khan, smashing two sixes in his first over, before eventually holing out in the 12th over.
There was no respite with Sams, elevated to No.4 after Ashes-bound Sam Billings' departure, signalling his intention with a second-ball six, and he dominated square of the wicket much like Hales. Sams, who boasts of the highest strike-rate in the tournament, notched his highest BBL score with brute force highlighted by eight sixes.
Needing six runs off the final ball, Sams agonisingly fell short of a deserved century with a miscued boundary, but the eye-catching knock of Australia's T20 World Cup squad member surely may have caught the attention of the national selectors.
Zahir struggles amid onslaught
Renegades' attack was without speedster James Pattinson and allrounder Mohammad Nabi, whose spin was particularly handy in their previous outing. Left-arm seamer Josh Lalor made his season debut but struggled to find his rhythm as Renegades had no answer against Hales and Sams with the pair especially laying into Zahir, who finished with 1 for 49 off three overs.
Zahir has had a strong season with 10 wickets at an economy rate of 7.81 but he copped a flogging and his confidence slumped. Spearhead Kane Richardson and the youngster Will Sutherland tried hard to stymie the runs but to no avail.
Highly-rated Sutherland has had an underwhelming BBL season but showcased his obvious talent by clean bowling Thunder stand-in captain Jason Sangha. He finished with 1 for 23 off 3 overs in a rare positive for Renegades.
Full report to follow
