Gayle half century goes in vain
Chris Gayle’s 53 off 33 balls with 5 sixes went in vain as his team Sydney Thunder lost to the Hobart Hurricanes by 5 wickets in their Big Bash League encounter.
Gayle was slow to start after Thunder won the toss and chose to bat first, scoring only 3 off the first nine balls he faced. The tenth delivery he faced was deposited over midwicket for a six as he cut loose. He once again had to counter slow batting from his partner at the other end as opening bat Daniel Smith managed only 6 off 14 before being caught at mid off.
No. 3 batsman Sean Abbott started positively, scoring 26 off 20 but the 12th over of the innings saw him face Rana Naved and take only 1 run off the last ball of the over. The following over from Ben Laughlin was a maiden and the pressure was back on Gayle to score.
Gayle’s attempt to clear sweeper cover landed in Rana Naved’s hands triggering a crippling slide which saw Thunder go from 91/1 in the 14th over to 138/8 after 20 overs.
The Hurricanes lost Phil Jacques off just the third ball of their innings and his opening partner Jonathan Wells took 36 balls to score 29 but they were on their way thanks to a blistering 33 off 18 balls from Travis Birt.
Owais Shah anchored the chase from the other end with 41 off 32 as Tom Triffitt kept the momentum going with his 17 ball 18. Triffitt’s innings came to an end thanks to a sensational flying one handed catch from Chris Gayle but with the score on 130/4 in the 18th over, the Hurricanes already had the match in the bag. The winning runs came in the next over as Hurricanes kept their unbeaten run in the tournament going, making it 4 out of 4 for them.
Gayle is on top of the run charts with 232 runs in the tournament from 4 games but the two consecutive losses for the Thunder means support from the other end would be more welcome.
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