Thunder hold off Rashid surge to win last-ball thriller.

The match in a tweet: A NYE thriller! Rashid Khan almost steals victory for the Strikers before the Thunder scrape home by just three runs

The score: Sydney Thunder 5-168 (Ferguson 73, Khawaja 63) beat Adelaide Strikers 9-165 (Weatherald 52, Rashid Khan 40) by three runs

The hero

He may not have been able to win the match for his side, but Rashid Khan got a standing ovation from a packed Adelaide Oval crowd after an extraordinary innings that almost produced a New Year’s Eve miracle.

The Strikers were seven wickets down and needed 51 runs to win from 25 balls when Rashid walked to the middle, and the Afghan almost steered the home side to victory.

The right-hander got moving with a six off the bowling of both Chris Green and Chris Morris before he launched Daniel Sams for 14 runs from the final three balls of the penultimate over, reducing the equation from 28 required from nine balls to 14 from the last over.

And when he hit consecutive boundaries to reduce the equation to five off two balls, the Strikers were suddenly favourites to win.

But Morris held his nerve with a full ball that Rashid could only steer to the man on the rope and, desperate to get back on strike, he was run out for a superb innings of 40 from just 18 balls.

And when new man Wes Agar couldn’t get any bat on another brilliant yorker from Morris on the final ball, the Thunder were home.

The match-winner

Thunder skipper Callum Ferguson is like the proverbial fine wine and seems to get better as the years go on.

Playing at the ground that’s been his home for most of his domestic career, the 35-year-old continued his red-hot form to reclaim the BKT Golden Cap as the tournament’s leading run-scorer.

The right-hander shared a vital 73-run stand with Usman Khawaja (63 from 50 balls) and finished with 73 from 46 deliveries to go with scores of 74no, 4, 27no and 52 to start the season.

The shock

For once, Rashid didn’t have things all his own way with the ball and his figures of 1-44 from four overs were the most expensive of his BBL career.

Having conceded 12 from his first two overs, Rashid copped the brunt of a late assault from Ferguson, who clubbed consecutive sixes – the second off a free hit – before he was caught on the boundary attempting a third maximum.

 

Ferguson’s second six will lead to a big reward for one lucky fan; the BBL’s naming rights partner, KFC, is this season offering a prize draw of $10,000 for each game that features a player hitting a six off a Bucket Ball Free Hit. All the details and how to enter are here.

The moment of brilliance

Just days after announcing his retirement from international cricket, Peter Siddle produced some quick thinking and reflexes that a younger man would have been proud of.

Caught slightly out of position at the bowler’s end as a throw came into the stumps, Siddle calmly plucked the ball in his right hand as his balance took him away from the target. Without looking, the veteran calmly swung his arm behind his back and knocked off the bails with Usman Khawaja short of his ground.

And the look on Siddle’s face said it all!

The consolation effort

The loss of wickets meant the Strikers struggled to get much momentum in the run chase, but they remained very much in the game when Jake Weatherald was at the crease.

The left-hander clubbed four monster sixes - three of which came off one Jono Cook over – in his score of 52 from 37 balls and was just getting going when he was deceived by a Sams slower ball and caught on the boundary.

The stat

In four innings so far in BBL|09, Thunder allrounder Daniel Sams is yet to get off a mark, posting scores 0, 0 not out, 0 not out and 0 again tonight.

The next stop

The Thunder will return to Sydney for their first match at their main home ground this season, their clash against the high-flying Stars at Sydney Showground on Thursday afternoon.

The Strikers will also head east for the first ever KFC BBL match at Coffs Harbour, where they’ll take on the Sixers on Sunday.

Strikers XI: Jake Weatherald, Phil Salt, Matt Short, Alex Carey (c/wk), Jon Wells, Cameron White, Rashid Khan, Cameron Valente, Peter Siddle, Wes Agar, Billy Stanlake

Thunder XI: Usman Khawaja, Alex Hales, Callum Ferguson (c), Matthew Gilkes (wk), Alex Ross, Chris Morris, Daniel Sams, Arjun Nair, Chris Green, Nathan McAndrew, Jono Cook