BBL 2019-20: Marcus Stoinis and Nick Larkin collide while taking a single

The Big Bash League 2020 season is slowly nearing its end with Sydney Sixers becoming the first side to qualify for the final. They had defeated the Melbourne Stars in the qualifier on Jan 31. Then Sydney Thunder defeated the Adelaide Strikers in the knockout match to set up a ‘Challenger’ match with Melbourne Stars.

After defeating Thunder in the Challenger, Melbourne Stars will now meet the Sixers in the final of the tournament on February 8 at the SCG. Stars won the bat flip and decided to bat first against the Sydney Thunder. Nic Maddinson managed only 11 runs, but Marcus Stoinis continued his rich vein of form and scored 83 off 54 balls with 3 sixes and 7 fours.

Stoinis got support from Nick Larkin, who also scored 83 runs in 49 balls with 3 sixes and 9 fours to his name. the duo added 117 runs for the second wicket and took the Stars to a formidable total of 194/2 in 20 overs. Both the wickets to fall went to Chris Morris.

Larkin and Stoinis’ confusion in the middle

Jonathan Cook and Daniel Sams were the bowlers who went for most runs with Cook giving 36 runs and Sams going for 41. Stoinis and Larkin were brutal in their onslaught as they added the century-plus partnership in just about 13 overs and spared no bowlers in the sight. However, it was not a bowler who was their nemesis, the duo was their own enemies as they collided in the middle of the wicket, while taking a double.

The official broadcasters of the BBL 09 Cricket 7 shared the video of the incident which shows both the batsmen looking at the ball while running and, in an effort, to avoid each other, changed courses, but still managed to bang into each other. “Interesting method of running between the wickets from Stoinis and Larkin 🙈 #BBL09,” the tweet was captioned.

Interesting method of running between the wickets from Stoinis and Larkin 🙈 #BBL09 pic.twitter.com/Odar9P9rqr

— #7Cricket (@7Cricket) February 6, 2020

In reply to Stars’ 194, the Thunder had a poor start, losing Hales (8), Ferguson (7) and Khawaja (23) early, leaving the team 41/3 in the sixth over. Alex Ross made 58, Morris made 21 and Arjun Nair made 30, as Stars tightened their grip on the match and clinched the encounter by 28 runs.