Alex Hales makes room to go downtown with aplomb

The 173-run chase barely unnerved Sydney Thunder whose openers Alex Hales and Cameron Bancroft set the tone with a rollicking partnership. There were no chunky contributions with the bat from the Thunder camp but everyone chipped in to get the job done with ten balls to spare as Melbourne Stars slipped to a five-wicket defeat against at the Lavington Sports Oval on Saturday, December 23.

Beau Webster’s 59-run knock had put the Stars on course for a significant total but they lost the plot in the death overs due to sparkling performances from Daniel Sams (4-33) and Zaman Khan (3-24) at the back end. Webster also starred with the ball as four of the five went to the all-rounder, but his dazzling efforts unfortunately came in a losing cause.

Brief scores: Melbourne Stars 172 in 20 overs (Beau Webster 59; Daniel Sams 4-33, Zaman Khan 3-24) lost to Sydney Thunder 176/5 in 18.2 overs (Alex Hales 40; Beau Webster 4-29) by 5 wickets.