Sydney Thunder took on Melbourne Stars in the knockout match of Big Bash League 2024 on Wednesday. The match was played at the Sydney Showground Stadium. Batter Matthew Gilkes got a huge slice of luck when he was controversially given not out much to the amazement of the opposition.
The incident happened in the third ball of the fourth over with Peter Siddle bowling to Gilkes. Siddle bowled a full ball outside the off stump which the batter tried to take advantage of. Gilkes mistimed his shot as the ball went flying to Tom Curran who took the catch and seemed to be confident.
Stars' fielders began to celebrate as the decisions were referred to the TV umpire. It was seen that Tom Curran had taken the catch initially but the ball had slipped out his hands after the catch was completed. It looked like the fielder had his fingers under the ball but the TV umpire was quick to rule it in favor of the batter.
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Melbourne Stars bowlers restrict Sydney Thunder to 135
Marcus Stoinis won the toss and chose to bowl first, speaking at the toss Stars’ skipper said “We are going to have a bowl. Just seeing how it played last game, we will assess how it plays and take it from there. It has been good to turn it around”.
The match was reduced to 19 overs per side after constant lightning had stopped play. Tom Curran struck the first blow in favour of the visitors as he dismissed David Warner for a second ball duck. Usama Mir then took an easy return catch to dismiss Hugh Weibgen for 11 runs.
Matthew Gilkes made the most of the second chance he was given to bat by scoring 28 runs in just 18 balls. His innings contained three boundaries and a six before becoming Mir’s second wicket caught by Glenn Maxwell. Sam Billings scored a painstaking 24 off 25 balls as he was dismissed by Doug Warren caught by Tom Curran.
The England seamer then struck the biggest blow of the game to dismiss top scorer Oliver Davies for 36. Sydney Thunder ended with 135/7 from their 20 overs thanks to a late cameo by Tom Andrews who was not out on 13 off eight balls which included the last ball six against Peter Siddle.