Thunder seal finals berth, Strikers' fate in the balance

The match in a tweet: After the rain, Sydney Thunder shone with the bat in a shortened match to claim third place and a play-off berth, leaving Adelaide Strikers at risk of missing the finals

The score: Even allowing for the reduction in overs, the Adelaide Strikers’ total of 4-115 seemed sub-par, but having been asked to bat first on a damp evening it was better than seemed likely as they limped to 3-37 midway through their innings. The Thunder's pursuit could hardly have produced a worse start when Usman Khawaja was bowled by the first ball, but that was the only hiccup as Alex Hales … and Callum Ferguson powered them to a nine-wicket win with almost two overs to spare.

The revised conditions: After enduring an energy-sapping Sunday afternoon when temperatures pushed past 40C at Adelaide Oval, a day later it was a vastly different picture as around 30mm fell in the course of a couple of hours today. The bat flip was delayed as ground staff worked furiously to clear the water and prepare the pitch, and the game was reduced to 14 overs per side with the Power Play in the first two overs and the Power Surge available for one over only.

Hales the chief: Three days after bludgeoning the highest individual total of BBL|10 (110 against Sydney Sixers), Alex Hales resumed his love affair with Adelaide Oval as he powered his team to a win that lifted them to third on the ladder. On the way, he passed Marcus Stoinis' record for most sixes in a season (28 in BBL|09) and finished the match with four sixes in his innings of 63no (off 39 balls), taking him to 30 blows beyond the boundary with at least two more games to play this summer.

The partnership: At 1-0 and with a batting order short on specialists, Sydney Thunder were relying heavily on their match-winners Hales and Callum Ferguson (46no off 33 balls). Not only did the experienced pair steady the ship, they took it full-throttle to the finish line with a stunning, unbeaten second-wicket partnership of 116 from 72 balls to cruise to victory with 11 deliveries up their sleeve.

The golden start: Brought back into the starting XI after a couple of games on the pine, Daniel Worrall took the new ball for Adelaide Strikers and landed an immediate blow. In cool and damp conditions that were expected to favour his swing bowling, Worrall hooped a big in-swinging yorker through the defence of Thunder key Usman Khawaja to uproot off stump and hand his team a dream start.

A better boost: In yesterday's run chase, it was the pursuit of the Bash Boost point that ultimately cost Sydney Thunder the game as it triggered a collapse from which they failed to recover. As a result of the Strikers stuttering start, tonight Bash Boost target was never going to raise much anxiety. Needing to reach 38 inside seven overs to secure the valuable extra point, the runs came before the halfway point of the fifth, by which time the Thunder were on the way to the full complement.

The opener: By his own admission, Jake Weatherald hasn't enjoyed the most productive BBL|10 campaign with his season summed-up yesterday when he was run-out twice – at either end of the pitch – from the same delivery. But in tough conditions, on a pitch enlivened by heavy afternoon rain, Weatherald plundered his highest score of the tournament to keep his team in the overs-reduced game. The left-hander's unbeaten 80 from 47 balls came after a measured start, and included eight fours and four sixes. To put the opener's knock in context, the next-best score for the Strikers was Jon Wells’ 21 (off 18).

The Striker surge: Thunder quick Adam Milne completed the second-most economical four-over spell the KFC BBL has witnessed in yesterday's game against the Strikers that yielded 1-6. Milne resumed where he left off with the new ball tonight, his first over costing a solitary run. So when the Strikers took the one-over Power Surge, Milne was the obvious candidate to bowl it. But his first two deliveries were slapped to the off-side boundary by Wells, before Weatherald joined in with a couple of his own as the Surge over brought three-times as many runs (18) as Milne had coughed up a day earlier.

The tackle: Adelaide Oval has witnessed some big hits in the centre square, but last night's clash between Thunder's paceman Nathan McAndrew and Strikers batter Wells was a rarity for cricket season. After being hit in the grille of his protective helmet by a McAndrew bouncer, Wells set off for a single only to find himself on a collision course with his opponent in his follow-through. McAndrew applied a front-on tackle out of self-preservation rather than subterfuge, and Wells was deprived of a second run before undergoing a standard concussion test – due to the blow from the ball, rather than contact with the bowler.

Come in spinner: Tanveer Sangha bowled just one over when the teams met at Adelaide Oval yesterday before being subbed out of the game in favour of Thunder batter Alex Ross. But it took the 19-year-old leggie just three deliveries tonight to make an impact. He lured Phil Salt into a slog-sweep that landed in the hands of Chris Green at deep mid-wicket, giving Sangha his 21st wicket BBL|10. The teenager is the most successful spinner in the competition to date, strengthening former Australia captain Ricky Ponting's claim he might be a chance of an Australia call-up for next month's T20 tour of New Zealand.

The next stops: The finals – well, for the Thunder certainly. The Strikers face a nervous wait tomorrow to see if the teams breathing down their neck – Hobart Hurricanes, Brisbane Heat and even seventh-placed Melbourne Stars – register wins that lift them into the top five at the Strikers’ expense. Those results from tomorrow's public holiday triple-header will also decide who plays when and where in the major round starting on Friday.