Twitter Reactions: Daniel Sams' all-round efforts propel Sydney Thunder to a grand victory

Skipper Chris Lynn’s enterprising knock of 69 from 44 that included three fours and five sixes became the fulcrum of Brisbane Heat’s innings, which ended at 178 for 6, after they won the toss and elected to bat first in the 7th clash of the Big Bash League (BBL) 2020-21. Notable contributions came from the top-order, where Max Bryant and Sam Heazlett scored 29 from 23 and 20 from 12, respectively.

The Sydney Thunder were a touch pale with the ball as despite taking wickets, they allowed the Heat batsmen to get their eyes in easily. Daniel Sams struck in the fourth over to end the 37-run opening stand as he dismissed Heazlett, who holed out to the fielder at deep backward square. At 3, Lynn got off to a good start and got some assistance from Bryant at the other end for a brief while. However, just when the latter was looking to get himself going, he chipped one from Jonathan Cook straight to Callum Ferguson at extra cover.

Dan Lawrence played a decent hand for his 20 from 19, although he picked out Alex Hales at long-off just when he was trying to open his arms against Cook. A thrilling cameo from Jack Wildermuth, who slammed four sixes in all in his 11-ball 31 led the Heat close to the 180-mark. At one stage, 200 looked probable, but Daniel Sams got Wildermuth dismissed on the second ball of the ultimate over, in which he gave away only 7 runs.

A nervous start for Thunder

The chase started nervously for the Thunder as Wildermuth struck twice in the opening over to reduce them to 1 for 2. He knocked over the dangerous Alex Hales for a duck in what was the second ball of Thunder’s response, whereas skipper Callum Ferguson did not trouble the scorers either as he perished with a drive that landed straight to Ben Laughlin at mid-on.

Steadying the rattled ship. Usman Khwaja and Alex Ross added 21 for the third wicket, however, Wildermuth came back to thud the Thunder as he made Khwaja (17 from 9) edge one to the wicketkeeper. The tumbling ceased for a while as Baxter Holt and Ross played watchfully and unperturbed by the failure of the top-three, continued adding runs at a comfortable pace. Although, Mujeeb ur Rahman struck in the 9th over to get rid of Holt (23 from 24) while Matthew Kuhnemann cleaned up Ross (34 from 24) in the very next over.

Daniel Sams’ rampage

Reeling at 80 for 5 after 11, the chase looked like a tall task. However, Ben Cutting and Daniel Sams quickly shifted the momentum as they took on Mujeeb and dispatched him for 14 runs in the 13th over. The duo ensured to pick up at least one boundary every over to keep the required rate under check. The tide turned once again in the 17th over when Steketee’s off-cutter undid Ben Cutting’s middle stump (29 from 23).

Needing 24 from the last two, it could have gone anywhere, although a shocker-over from Ben Laughlin, which started with a no-ball and ended with three consecutive maximums courtesy of the rampaging Daniel Sams (65* from 25), proved enough for Thunder to seal the game with an over to spare.

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