BBL12 is just three days old and already has seen no shortage of drama – and an extraordinary night in Sydney has seen the Adelaide Strikers add a whole lot more.
Seemingly vulnerable defending 140 against the Sydney Thunder, an incredible performance from the Strikers’ pace-bowling battery saw them bowl the Thunder out for just 15, leading to the sort of scorecard usually seen in one-sided junior cricket games.
Strikers’ star leg-spinner Rashid Khan wasn’t required to bowl a single over, and nor was captain Peter Siddle. Instead, quicks Henry Thornton (5/3) and Wes Agar (4/6) ran riot as the Thunder batters edged everything within reach.
Wicketkeeper Harry Nielsen plucked five catches, Matt Short at first slip two – the first a one-handed stunner in contention for the catch of the tournament – while Tom Kelly and Adam Hose each held onto a chance at point.
Daniel Sams was the only Thunder batter to not fall to a catch behind the wicket, unluckily bowled after the ball deflected off his thigh pad. It summed up the Thunder’s night.
In a perfect coincidence, the game coincided with Thornton’s 26th birthday – with a five-wicket haul and obvious player of the match honours, he wouldn’t have had too many better ones.
The horror show took just 35 balls and 31 minutes, and annihilates the previous record-low score in the BBL of 57, set by the Melbourne Renegades in the 2014/15 season. This one is unlikely to be broken anytime soon.
And it gets even worse for the Thunder – the paltry effort is the equal-lowest score in Australian professional cricket history, be it T20, first-class or List A formats. A Victorian effort in the 1903/04 Sheffield Shield is its only peer.
It’s also the lowest ever completed score in a T20 match, going past the 21 scored by famous cricketing nation Turkey against the Czech Republic in 2019.
Even England Test captain Ben Stokes was watching on in awe.
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