Cricket Highlights, 29 Dec: BBL 2022/23 (Match 19) – Brisbane Heat vs Sydney Thunder

Brisbane Heat vs Sydney Thunder (Match 19) – Highlights

A brilliant all-round performance from Daniel Sams helped Sydney Thunder to get an impressive 11-run win over Brisbane Heat in the 19th match of the BBL 2022/23 at the Metricon Stadium in Queensland. Daniel Sams was adjudged player of the match for his 16-ball innings of 36 remaining unbeaten with the bat and later taking two wickets with the ball.

Brisbane Heat captain Jimmy Peirson won the toss and elected to field first, sending Sydney Thunder to bat first. Sydney Thunder lost 6 wickets in the scheduled 20 overs and collected a big score of 182 runs. In response, Brisbane Heat’s innings was stopped at 171 runs after losing 9 wickets in 20 overs.

However, pacer Nathan McAndrew played one of the vital roles in this victory of Sydney Thunder. The team finally won the game for his controlled bowling in the last over of the innings. In the last over, Brisbane Heat needed 16 runs to win with 4 wickets in hand. McAndrew sent a devastating Colin Munro to the dressing room on the second ball of the over. Munro returned to the pavilion just staying 2 runs short of the century.

Brisbane Heat still needed 13 runs from 4 balls to win. McAndrew gave a single in the next ball, but he picked up the wicket of Michael Neser in the 4th ball. As a result, 12 runs were needed in the last two balls. The 5th ball of the over was a dot ball and McAndrew took a wicket on the last ball to give the team an incredible 11-run victory.

Chasing a challenging target of 183 runs, Brisbane Heat were under pressure from the start. They kept losing wickets at regular intervals due to the devastating bowling performance of the Sydney Thunder bowlers. Brisbane Heat picked up 49 runs in 5 overs but lost 3 wickets. However, opener Munro continued to play firmly despite this disaster. He continued to take the team forward single-handedly.

Brisbane Heat lost five wickets to score 102 runs in 11.1 overs. But Munro continued to play devastating innings keeping one end of the wicket safe. He put on a 48-run partnership with James Bazley for the 6th wicket, which was the team’s biggest partnership for the Heat. In the 18th over, Bazley returned to the dugout after scoring 29 runs off 24 balls, and Brisbane Heat fell behind in the match again.

Apart from Bazley and Munro, no other batsman for the team could touch double-digit scores. Munro returned to the pavilion by playing daring innings of 98 off 53 balls, with 9 fours and 3 sixes. Nathan McAndrew scalped the highest number of 4 wickets for Sydney Thunder. Besides, Daniel Sams took 2 wickets, and Chris Green, Gurinder Sandhu, and Usman Qadir took 1 wicket each.

Batting first in Carrara, Sydney Thunder did not get off to a good start. They managed to get 29 runs after losing 1 wicket in 5 overs. From there, openers Matthew Gilkes and Rilee Rossouw continued to lead the team to big scores. These two made a partnership of 57 runs for the 2nd wicket. Gilkes (37) and Rossouw (39) returned to the dressing room but it had no impact on the team.

Then Oliver Davies returned to the pavilion with 16 off 10 balls and Alex Ross 25 off 12 balls. However, in the end, with 2 fours and 4 sixes by Daniel Sams, Sydney Thunder could collect a challenging target due to stormy innings of 36 runs off 15 balls. James Bazley took 4 wickets for Brisbane Heat with 22 runs in 4 overs. Besides, Michael Neser and Matthew Kuhnemann took 1 wicket each.

Sydney Thunder has climbed to the 5th place in the points table with an equal number of three wins and three losses in six matches. On the other hand, Brisbane Heat is currently at the bottom of the points table with one win and four losses playing five matches.

Brisbane Heat vs Sydney Thunder Scoreboard

Brisbane Heat – 171/9 (20.0)

Sydney Thunder – 182/6 (20.0)

Result – Sydney Thunder won by 11 runs

Player of the match – Daniel Sams

Brisbane Heat vs Sydney Thunder Playing XIs