Clutch Morris keeps Thunder's Big Bash season alive

The match in a tweet: Rain! Hales! Thunder! Chris Morris sees Thunder clinch must-win clash in thrilling final over to keep their #BBL09 title hopes alive.

The score: Perth Scorchers 4-99 (Bancroft 35no) lost to Sydney Thunder 3-97 (Hales 47) by seven wickets on the DLS method with two balls to spare.

The hero: With nine runs needed from four balls, Chris Morris launched Matt Kelly high and handsome straight down the ground for a huge six. He followed it up with a four over cover to secure the win. Morris had scored just 45 runs in his nine innings this season but delivered with the bat when it mattered most.

The support cast: With a relatively small total to chase, Thunder opener Alex Hales took it upon himself to lay the platform for victory and a spot in the BBL|09 finals.

His rampage started in the second over by taking down former South Africa speedster and Scorchers debutant Morne Morkel for two fours and soaring six behind deep backward square.

With the required run rate in control, Hales ticked the scoreboard over with partner Usman Khawaja and put away the bad balls. The right-hander moved from 40 to 46 with an enormous six off Perth captain Mitch Marsh which landed in the top tier of Sydney Showground Stadium.

He was out for 47 top-edging leggie Fawad Ahmed and while they had a serious late scare when the equation became 12 runs needed of the final over, his exit proved too late for the visitors.

Hales has been in a purple patch of form since the new year, posting scores of 55, 31, 0, 85, 63 and 47 today in his past six innings.

The conditions:  A huge downpour delayed play for an hour with the Scorchers on 4-99 from 15 overs. The delay finished the Scorchers' innings and left the Thunder 12 overs to chase down 96 to win.

The consolation effort: Cameron Bancroft entered at 2-47 in the eighth over on a slow deck with opener Liam Livingstone struggling to find the rope.

But with the remaining overs drying up and wet weather looming, Bancroft went big, bashing paceman Gurinder Sandhu for over long off before hitting leg-spinner Jonathan Cook for two fours the following over.

The rain halted his charge on 35 from 25 balls, denied a chance to reach a third half-century for the season.

The stat: With the wicket of hard-hitting middle-order batter Ashton Turner, Daniel Sams set a new record for the most wickets in a single BBL season.

Sams' 25th scalp broke the previous record of 24 set by Melbourne Renegades quick Kane Richardson in BBL|08. He finishes the regular season with 25 wickets at 14.8 and a best performance of 4-34 against the Hurricanes.

The next stops: Sunday's victory means the Thunder have moved into fourth but are not completely safe just yet.

Should the Hurricanes beat the Strikers by a large margin and the Heat beat the Renegades on Monday, the Thunder could miss out on Net Run Rate (NRR).

But if one of Hobart or Brisbane lose then the Thunder are in the finals for the first time since BBL|05 when they won the competition.

The Scorchers are still alive, but only just. They need the Strikers and Renegades to both win to creep into fifth with a superior NRR.

Thunder XI: Alex Hales, Usman Khawaja, Callum Ferguson (c), Alex Ross, Arjun Nair, Chris Morris, Daniel Sams, Jay Lenton (wk), Chris Tremain, Gurinder Sandhu, Jono Cook

Scorchers XI: Liam Livingstone, Josh Inglis (wk), Mitchell Marsh (c), Cameron Bancroft, Ashton Turner, Tim David, Ashton Agar, Jhye Richardson, Matthew Kelly, Morne Morkel, Fawad Ahmed