Twitter Reactions: Sydney Thunder spoil the Scorchers' party and strengthen their qualification chances

The Sydney Thunder have defeated the Perth Scorchers in their final game of the ongoing BBL season to complicate the qualification scenario. The crucial game was interrupted by rain and the chase for the Thunder was reduced to 12 overs. It went down the wire in the end but Chris Morris kept his cool and got his team over the line even as the Scorchers were left stunned and will now have to depend on other results to go through.

With the rain coming down after 15 overs of the Scorchers innings and eating a lot of time, the officials decided to reduce the game to 12 overs per side affair. According to it, the Thunder got the target of 96 runs with them needing their in-form opener Alex Hales to get going. And the England international didn’t disappoint. He went after the opposition bowlers after getting a feel of the pitch.

Usman Khawaja, at the other end, played second fiddle to him as the opening duo added 66 runs in 7.3 overs to bring the victory in sight. Fawad Ahmed snaffled Hales on 47 and this is where the run-scoring came down for the Thunders. Khawaja got run-out while Alex Ross was castled by Jhye Richardson in the penultimate over to make things interesting.

Richardson conceded only a couple of runs in the 11th over to bring the equation down to 12 runs off the final six balls. Matt Kelly was handed the responsibility to defend and he did well to go for just three runs in first two balls. However, Chris Morris sealed the deal with a six and a four each off the next two balls as the Thunder won the game by seven wickets.

Scorchers struggle right through their innings

Earlier, after opting to bat, the Scorchers never got hold of the pitch. They kept losing wickets at the regular intervals. The top three batsmen, Liam Livingstone, Mitchell Marsh and Josh Inglis spent time in the middle but couldn’t churn out quick runs. At 64/4 in the 12th over, things looked tough for the Scorchers but Cameron Bancroft played some attractive strokes.

He stitched a partnership with Tim David and just when the innings was gaining momentum, the rain arrived. Bancroft was not out on 35 off 25 balls with the score reading 99/4 after 15 overs but the innings never resumed and the Scorchers might feel hard done. But their bowlers tried their best only to come second in the game.

With the Thunder winning this game, they have climbed to the fourth position while there is still a chance for the Hobart Hurricanes now to make it to the top five. The Hurricanes will have to win by a better margin to overcome Thunder’s NRR while the Scorchers will now pray for the Hurricanes and the Heat to lose their respective last games.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: