By George Clarke
The Sydney Thunder have climbed off the bottom of the BBL table with a 10-wicket win over the Brisbane Heat.
The opening 124-run stand between Alex Hales (59no) and Matthew Gilkes (56no) was unbroken as the pair powered the Thunder to their second win of the season.
Matthew Gilkes of the Thunder beats the field.Credit:Getty Images
In what was their side’s first game back at Sydney Showground since they were all-out for 15, the Thunder duo bore no mental scars as they sealed the win with 50 balls to spare.
The pair took great delight in punishing Test hopefuls Michael Neser (0-31) and Mitchell Swepson (0-40) who struggled to defend the Heat’s side’s modest first innings total of 6-121 in the three overs they were each given to bowl.
Brisbane had a hard night after winning the toss and opting to bat, with Max Bryant, Sam Billings and Matt Renshaw all walking for single figures.
Opener Colin Munro steadied the ship with a methodical 43, building a balanced partnership with Jimmy Peirson (27).
There was some concern when Peirson was hit on the helmet by a 132km/h pacer from Nathan McAndrew in the 11th over.
While Peirson was able to play on, his dismissal was the start of the Heat’s implosion, with Munro going and Neser walking for a golden duck.
Xavier Bartlett added a rapid 28 off 17 balls to leave the Thunder with a modest and achievable total.
They rose to the challenge with Gilkes and Hales making a point of going after Swepson and Neser from the get-go.
It was in the 11th over when Gilkes really began to motor, smashing Swepson for 25 off the over.
That left the Thunder needing 10 runs to seal victory which England international Hales easily did within just four balls off Mark Steketee.
Hales says he and his teammates felt like they had a point to prove following the humiliation of being out for 15.
“What happened in the last game (at home) … this was the polar opposite,” Hales said.
“I thought we bowled really well, they were brilliant from the get-go and they’ve been really good all year, our bowlers.
“It was good to back it up with the bat. You try not to speak about that, what happened was an anomaly.
“It was probably more on the crowd’s mind than ours, we just wanted to make sure we were positive and try to get on top of them early on.”
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