PSL 6: Wildermuth, Weatherald, Faulkner and Ferguson among eight Aussies heading for UAE
BBL10 | Match Report: Dan Christian wins a last ball thriller for Sixers against Heat
BBL10 | Heat vs Strikers: Gregory, Wildmeruth hold nerve as Heat clinch thriller
BBL10: Daniel Sams steals the show in Sydney's towering victory over Brisbane
The grudge match between Brisbane Heat and Sydney Thunder was stolen by a riveting Daniel Sams knock turning the game on its head to give Thunder their first win in the Big Bash League this season. Chasing 179, Thunder were in no shape to win the game till halfway point in the chase losing out 5 wickets for just 80 runs. With 77 required from the final seven, Sams and former Brisbane mainstay, Ben Cutting stepped on the accelerator to bring the equation down to 32 in the final three overs. Redemption seeker Ben Cutting, who had a massive fallout with the Brisbane management ahead of the season, failed to seal the game and was undone by a slower ball in the 18th over by Mark Steketee. With Cutting gone, on song Sams took it upon himself and cleared the rope with four huge sixes in the penultimate over to close off the game singlehandedly with 7 balls remaining. He was adjudged the man of the match for his all-round effort with the ball and the bat. It could so easily have been Jack Wildermuth’s night Before Daniel Sams stole the show with his stellar innings, this match was all about Jack Wildermuth, and it could have been that way if Heat would have been able to get their yorkers right. When Jack Wildermuth came out to bat in the first innings, Heat were suffering from a momentum issue. Barring the over young Tanveer Sangha where Chris Lynn scored 16 runs, Heat had barely anything to show for. When Wildermuth walked into bat in the 18th over, Heat were reeling at 140/4. Coming off Ind vs Aus A with a century, he took a couple of balls to adjust and then battered each bowler of the Thunder line-up to score 31 off just 11 balls. This propelled Heat’s to 177 in a space of 12 balls before he was caught out at short third man off a miscued slog. If that wasn’t enough, Wildermuth picked up three wickets in his first spell. Opening the bowling for the first time, he moved the ball in with the angle and made it immensely difficult for the batsmen to target him in the powerplay. Wildermuth bowled Alex Hales through the gates, drew Callum Ferguson in a false shot and edged Usman Khawaja to the keeper to put his team in a fine position in the early part of the chase. Thunder’s middle-order get their act together There is no doubt about who won Thunder’s the game. But the patient rebuild was started by the middle order, who picked the correct balls to go after and kept the scoreboard busy without taking unnecessary risks. Alex Ross was impressive in particular mixing his incredible touch on the ball and effective power hitting. Unfortunately, he had to depart looking for the big shots due to his groin niggle but was ably backed up by the efforts of Baxter Holt and Ben Cutting who scored 23 and 29 respectively. They desperately tried to build a foundation and got out trying to accelerate. I am Daniel Sams…and I didn’t wanna get a duck In the post-match presentation, Daniel Sams said that he had been working hard with Ponting to clear the boundary. It showed as Sams cleared the ropes for the 7th time in the innings to seal the game with ease chasing down 179 with seven balls to spare. He had gone through a lean patch in the last tournament and stated that he did not want to get a duck and was not flustered by the early losses in the Thunders innings. The hitting part was aided by the Heat’s bowler missing their yorkers time and again throughout the final overs as Sams kept dispatching the full tosses over cow corner. It can be very easy to forget after that stellar batting display that Sams is a proper asset in the bowling department for any T20 franchise, one who can bowl and deliver at any time of the innings. He bowled the final over today as well in the first innings picking up the prized wicket of a magnificent Wildermuth and kept it to just seven runs in that over. In conclusion Sydney Thunder registered their first win in this competition picking up three points against Heat. On the other hand, while Heat looked on course to win the game for the majority of the match, they would be going back to the nets to work on their execution in the final overs. Having said that all is not lost considering Heat did very well to change their approach from the last game to put on runs aggressively in the opening overs. Heat have ample time before they play their next game against the Strikers on 23rd December and if today was any indication they will look to bounce back in the most aggressive of manners.
BBL10: Twitter goes crazy after Jack Wildermuth’s all-round brilliance
Brisbane Heat all-rounder Jack Wildermuth turned the tide in his team's favour, first with the bat and then with the ball as he scored a quickfire 31 of 11 balls in the death overs to take Heat to a par score of 178 against Sydney Thunder in Canberra. Wildermuth played his first season with Heat and then moved to Renegades, before coming back this year back to his first team. With the ball, he was right on the money in the first over itself, getting the dangerman Alex Hales bowled for a duck with only his second delivery in the match. Later in the first over itself, he got the prized scalp of Thunder captain Callum Ferguson, that too for naught, ending the over with the Thunder scorecard reading one for two. Twitter was full of praise for the 27-year-old, who just a few days ago has hit a hundred in a first-class game against Indians in Sydney. But that was not all, he came back in his second over and got out Usman Khawaja too, the second opener, who was trying to hit one out of the park over the cover and got a thick edge to Jamie Pierson behind the wickets. Seeing the luck that he was in, skipper Lynn bowled him out in one go, as he finished his four-over quota with amazing figures of 3-23. When Wildermuth had come at the crease to bat, the Heat were at 140/4 at the end of the 17 overs. It was courtesy of his four sixes in 11 balls that the Heat were able to get to a good total even after Lynn got out in the 19th over. At the time of writing this news, the Thunder, chasing a target of 179, 129-5 at the end of the 15th over, needing 50 in the last five overs to win their first game.