Thunder surge to final-over win over Scorchers

The match in a tweet: Ice cool Ferguson and dashing debutant Davies lift the Thunder to victory over Scorchers in Canberra #BBL10

The score: Perth Scorchers 5-152 (Marsh 52no, Bancroft 34no; Cutting 1-16) lost to Sydney Thunder 3-156 (Ferguson 61no, Davies 36, Cutting 29no) by seven wickets with three balls remaining.

The hero: Having lost both openers cheaply and with an inexperienced middle-order, Sydney Thunder skipper Callum Ferguson answered the call with a classy knock to spearhead his team’s second victory of the KFC BBL season.

Filling the vital No.3 position and with the Thunder under pressure, Ferguson punished Perth Scorchers’ attack on a slow wicket at Manuka Oval, finishing 61 not out from 53 balls in a player-of-the-match display as his team prevailed by seven wickets.

Ferguson has retired from first-class cricket, but he is far from finished in the Twenty20 competition after also notching a half-century in his side’s season opener against Melbourne Stars.

The supporting cast: Oliver Davies represented Australia in this year’s Under-19 World Cup and attracted headlines in 2018 when he plundered an extraordinary 207 off 115 balls (including 17 sixes) for NSW Metro in the U19 National Championships.

Tonight he made his BBL debut for the Thunder and looked more than comfortable at the level, hitting 36 from 22 in a 75-run stand with Ferguson after arriving at the crease with his team 2-34.

Davies underlined his class by hammering Jason Behrendorff for two sixes in the 11th over before he brought out the reverse sweep and sent a Fawad Ahmed delivery to the boundary to close out the 12th over. The 20-year-old then hit Fawad over the deep mid-wicket fence before his dashing debut came to an end.

Ben Cutting then helped ice the game with 29 not out from 16 to go with 1-16 from three overs. 

The consolation act:  After scores of 17 and 0 to start the tournament, Mitch Marsh displayed his power by hitting three sixes in an unbeaten 52 from 41. While his teammates struggled to change gears against a disciplined Thunder attack, Marsh produced a vital half-century as he made a watchful start before accelerating, posting his eighth BBL fifty in an unconquered 61-run stand with Cameron Bancroft (34 not out from 26).

The controversy: Andrew Tye was left perplexed after Usman Khawaja was given not out caught behind in the sixth over of the Thunder’s, with umpire Simon Lightbody explaining that he believed Khawaja's bat had hit the ground. The dangerous left-hander was on 19 at the time, but only added two runs to his tally before he was dismissed by Aaron Hardie.

The run out: This was elite! Alex Hales and Joe Clarke are teammates at Nottinghamshire but tonight they were on opposing sides in the BBL, with Hales completing a direct hit from mid-off to remove his countryman for a duck from two deliveries.

The stat: Hales is in fine form in the field, but the hard-hitting Englishman will be searching for a slice of fortune with the bat after being dismissed for a first-ball duck in the Thunder’s past two matches. Hales started the tournament with a hand of 46 against Melbourne Stars on December 12, but has faced just two deliveries since.

The debutant II: New Zealand paceman Adam Milne has reunited with his idol and Thunder coach Shane Bond in the BBL this season and impressed in his first outing.

Milne did not concede a boundary as he returned 0-17 from four overs, sending down two overs in the initial powerplay and testing the Scorchers’ batsmen. Milne sent down a 153.2kph thunderbolt for the Kiwis in a match against the West Indies in 2014, and while he has stopped short of declaring he can reach those speeds for the Thunder after a horror run of injuries, he should be marked down as a player to watch after an encouraging first appearance.

The next stop:  The Thunder will be back at Manuka Oval to tackle Melbourne Renegades on Boxing Day, while the Scorchers will continue their search for their first win of BBL|10 against Adelaide Strikers at Adelaide Oval on December 28.

Thunder XI: Alex Hales, Usman Khawaja, Callum Ferguson (c), Oliver Davies, Baxter Holt (wk), Ben Cutting, Daniel Sams, Chris Green, Nathan McAndrew, Adam Milne, Tanveer Sangha 

Scorchers XI: Josh Inglis (wk), Colin Munro, Joe Clarke, Mitch Marsh, Ashton Turner (c), Cameron Bancroft, Aaron Hardie, Jhye Richardson, Andrew Tye, Jason Behrendorff, Fawad Ahmed