Khawaja marks BBL return with fluent 78 as Heat knock Thunder out
Brisbane Heat climbed to fifth on the points table with a commanding seven-wicket win over Sydney Thunder at The Gabba. Leading the charge was Usman Khawaja, turning out for his first BBL game of the season and captaining the side just two days after retiring from international cricket.
Khawaja's fluent 78 off 48 balls set the tone as Heat chased down 181 with ease, getting there with 22 balls to spare. The loss was Thunder's seventh in eight games, which meant that they became the first team to be elimilated.
Jack Wildermuth set the tone early for the Heat as he raced to a 15-ball 39 that included four fours and three sixes. Khawaja largely played second fiddle up until the fourth over, which also saw Wildermuth fall to Daniel Sams.
The Thunder managed to sneak in a couple of quiet overs following the PowerPlay while also dismissing Nathan McSweeney. But the onslaught resumed once Matt Renshaw joined Khawaja at the crease. The two left-handers shared a 93-run stand that came off just 54 deliveries.
The Heat were on the brink of victory before Khawaja fell to Wes Agar at the end of the 16th over. Their win was sealed by Max Bryant who smacked a six off Daniel Sams in the following over.
Earlier, after opting to bat first, the Thunder openers were kept quiet in the first three overs. They managed to rescue what would've otherwise been a poor PowerPlay with three sixes off Xavier Bartlett in the fourth over.
Matthew Gilkes, however, fell immediately after and Cameron Bancroft failed to make an impact as well. An 84-run stand between David Warner and Sam Billings kept the Thunder on track for a good score with the former going on to raise his third consecutive fifty-plus score.
Warner showed visible discomfort after being struck on the knee but continued batting. His availability for the remainder of the tournament, however, remains uncertain after Billings later confirmed he had sustained a quadricep injury.
The partnership ended when Warner was run-out in the 16th over but Billings and Nic Maddinson kept the tempo up with regular boundaries. Despite losing four wickets in the last five overs, the Thunder managed to smack 50 runs and ended with 180/6.
Brief Scores: Sydney Thunder 180/6 in 20 overs (David Warner 82; Matt Renshaw 2-29) lost to Brisbane Heat 183/3 in 16.2 overs (Usman Khawaja 78; Chris Green 1-28) by 7 wickets
Stars asserted their dominance in the second Melbourne Derby, cruising to a comprehensive eight-wicket victory over the Renegades to end their three-match losing streak. Driven by a masterful unbeaten 84 off 51 from Sam Harper and a disciplined bowling performance, the Stars chased down a target of 167 with 25 balls to spare.
Winning the toss and electing to bowl, the Stars' attack immediately put the Renegades under pressure. While opener Josh Brown provided the bulk of the resistance for the home side, scoring a resilient 80 off 50 deliveries, he lacked sustained support from the other end. Tim Seifert fell early for just 3, caught by Haris Rauf off the bowling of Tom Curran. Jake Fraser-McGurk managed 17 but provided one of the afternoon's most talked-about moments when he hit the stadium roof with an attempted heave for it to be deemed dead ball under the updated rules.
The Renegades' middle order struggled to accelerate against the clinical Stars' rotation. Captain Will Sutherland and Mohammad Rizwan were unable to break the shackles, and late wickets saw the Renegades finish on a sub-par 166 for 7 after their 20 overs. Marcus Stoinis was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 33 to tie down the Renegades.
The Stars' chase was a masterclass in calculated aggression. Harper was the undisputed protagonist of the innings as he anchored the pursuit with a brilliant 84 not out from 51 balls, a knock inclusive of eight boundaries and four sixes. Fellow opener Thomas Rogers, played a vital supporting role with an equally destructive 53 off just 24 deliveries, hitting four maximums himself. The pair shared a dominant 84-run stand, before losing two in quick succession.
But, Stars never looked in danger. Harper carried on, and added 78 runs in just 46 balls for the unbroken third-wicket stand with Glenn Maxwell to take his team over the line in the 16th over. Harper led the charge here, with Maxwell chipping in a 17-ball 20 not out.
Brief scores: Melbourne Renegades 166/7 in 20 overs (Josh Brown 80; Marcus Stoinis 3-33, Haris Rauf 2-31) lost to Melbourne Stars 170/1 in 15.5 overs (Sam Harper 84*, Thomas Rogers 53) by 8 wickets
