In an outstanding display of all round performance, Melbourne stars piped Sydney Thunders to march into the final of the Big Bash League 2020. Batting first, Melbourne stars put a daunting target of 195 for Sydney thunders to win, who in return crawled to 166-8 in their quota of 20 overs, stumbling to a heartbreaking 28 runs defeat. Stars will now face Sydney Sixers for the BBL title on 8th Feb.
Marcus Stoinis and Nick Larkin – The men of the hour
Marcus Stoinis has been in sublime form(Image Credit: Battingpro.com.au)
The credit of this scintillating win goes to the duo of Marcus Stoinis and Nick Larkin, who smashed 83 runs a piece, off 54 and 49 balls respectively, taking Starts to a massive total of 194-2. Opting to bat, Stars were jolted early by the wicket of Nic Maddinson for 11 but it hardly had any impact on Marcus Stoinis, who looked in ominous touch and smashed the bowlers all-round the ground. Stoinis got good support from Nick Larkin who too launched an attack on the Thunder bowlers, Stitching a massive 117 run stand for the second wicket. Daniel Sams and Jonathan Cook were to most expensive bowlers for the Thunders. Sams in his quota of 4 overs went at 10.2 runs per over, giving away 41 runs. Cook, on the other hand, had an economy of 12 and ended the match with figures of 3-36-0. Chris Morris was the only bright prospect for the Thunders, picking up both the wickets to fall and going for a mere 30 runs in his 4 overs.
Haris Rauf too good for Sixers
Haris Rauf has been among wickets (Pic credit: The sports rush)
When you’re chasing a monstrous target of 195, the first thing you don’t want is to lose a wicket at the start, exactly what happened with Thuders, who lost Alex Hales run out, in the third over for run a ball 8, thanks to a scintillating effort from Nathan Coulter-Nile.
Coming in to bowl in the 5th over, Coulter-Nile bamboozled Khawaja for 23. Haris Rauf Joined the party and dismissed Callum Ferguson for 7, leaving starts tottering at 46-3 in 6 overs.
Post the wicket of Chris Morris at 86, Arjun Nair joined Alex Ross and stitched a 58 run partnership in 33 balls, giving some stability to the sinking sixers. Ross, who played a blistering inning of 58 of 38 balls was finally dismissed by Adam Zampa who also accounted for the wicket of Arjun Nair for 30 of 17.
Post that wicket, the loss was inevitable for the Thunders. Haris Rauf was the most successful bowler for the stars, picking up 3 wickets in his quota of 4 overs and giving away only 17 runs at 4.2.
He got good support from Nathan Coulter-Nile and Adam Zampa who picked up 2 wickets each.
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