Ashton Turner was left stuck unbeaten on a career-best 99 as the Perth Scorchers romped to a 71-run victory against the Sydney Thunder at Engie Stadium to jump to third place on the BBL table.
Scorchers skipper Turner struck eight sixes and eight fours in his blistering 41-ball knock to guide the visitors to 8/202 after walking to the crease at 3/34.
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The Thunder needed to produce a record chase at their home ground and appeared as if they would give it a good shake as they raced to 0/60 before crumbling to 131 all out.
Turner started the final over of the Scorchers’ innings on 86, and launched back-to-back sixes off Daniel Sams, but was unable to regain the strike after hitting a single to long on from the third ball of the over.
Ashton Agar beat long on to hit a four, then he and Joel Paris fell in consecutive deliveries, both caught in the deep, while Turner watched from the non-striker’s end.
He is the fourth player in Big Bash history be left not out one shy of a century.
“I told him to hit out of the ground next time,” Turner told Fox Cricket post-match when asked if he had some words with Agar afterwards.
“At the end of the innings it’s our job to scrap as many runs together as we can. On another day he hits that out of the ground and we have a few more runs to defend.”
MATCH CENTRE: Scorecard
Turner needed just 22 balls to reach his fifty as he smoked 22 runs, including three sixes, off one Chris Green over to ignite the visitors’ innings in a drastic turnaround from their previous outing in Sydney’s west.
The Scorchers were knocked over for just 97 that night with Green taking 3/13 from his four overs, but the tweaker was punished this time around with Turner effectively targeting the shorter straight boundaries.
He was well supported by Aaron Hardie (28 off 16) during the power surge – from which they pillaged 35 runs, including Hardie smacking four consecutive fours off Nathan McAndrew.
Cooper Connolly (28 off 27) was also a solid contributor and the youngster was the beneficiary of a horror drop catch on the deep mid-wicket boundary by Matthew Gilkes, who typically plies his trade as wicketkeeper.
Connolly was also instrumental with the ball.
The 22-year-old left-arm spinner backed up his three-wicket haul against the Hurricanes on Boxing Day with figures of 2/26.
Connolly was also on a hat-trick one point, taking a sharp return catch to dismiss Cameron Bancroft before knocking over Sam Billings for a golden duck with an arm ball.
The wickets were shared among the Scorchers’ bowlers as Aaron Hardie (2/7), Brody Couch (2/28) and Joel Paris (2/28) also took two scalps.
David Warner returned to the top of the order for Thunder after making scores of 2, 7 and 10 batting at No.3 to start the season.
The Thunder’s skipper launched young tearaway Mahli Beardman for a monster six in the first over of the run chase, but eventually fell to an excellent catch from Finn Allen in the outfield for 25 off 21.
Warner’s opening partner Matthew Gilkes (33 off 19) and last year’s Boxing Day sensation Sam Konstas (21), who batted No.3 for the first time in his BBL career, were the only other Thunder batters to pass 20.
Gilkes and Konstas combined for a brilliant catch on the boundary on the last ball of the Scorchers’ innings, but their communication was lacking in the middle as Gilkes was run out in a shocking mix-up.
At the top of the order for the Scorchers, Mitchell Marsh missed out once again.
The Australian T20 skipper hit a monster six but did not make any other runs in his 7-ball stay, while Josh Inglis, who was released from the Australian Test squad for this match, made 13 off 9 in his first BBL appearance of the summer.
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