BBL 2020-21: Match 53, THU vs STR – Hales tops the six-hitting charts, A big win for the Thunder and more stats

Sydney Thunder sealed their place in the playoffs after thumping the Adelaide Strikers in their last league fixture by 9 wickets. Jake Weatherald smashed an unbeaten 47-ball 80 with 8 fours and 4 maximums after the game was reduced to 14 overs due to rain delay. The rest of the line-up collected 29 runs off the bat as they ended up with only 115/4. Thunder lost the wicket of Usman Khawaja on the very first ball of the chase. But Alex Hales smashed an unbeaten 39-ball 63 while skipper Callum Ferguson scored 46* off 33 to wrap the chase with 11 balls to spare.

Here are all the statistical highlights recorded during Sydney Thunder’s big win during THU vs STR game:

A big win for the Thunder:

9 – Sydney Thunder’s 9-wicket win during the THU vs STR game is now their joint-biggest BBL win in terms of wickets. Thunder also defeated Melbourne Renegades by 9 wickets during the 2013-14 season while chasing 105 to win.

This was also the 2nd instance of Adelaide Strikers losing a BBL game by 9 or more wickets as they went down to Hobart Hurricanes while defending a target of 155 during the 2018-19 season fixture.

Hales tops the six-hitting charts:

30 – As many as 30 sixes have been hit by Alex Hales in the BBL 2020-21 thus far; the most number of sixes hit by any player in a single edition of Big Bash League. Hales, with the four sixes during the THU vs STR game, went past Marcus Stoinis’ 28 sixes in the 2019-20 season.

53 – Hales has hit a total of 53 sixes in his BBL career for the Sydney Thunder; the most by any player for the franchise going past Shane Watson’s 52 maximums.

Hales @ 500 runs:

533 – Alex Hales has scored 533 runs in the BBL 2020-21 making him the first player with 500+ runs in this tournament. Hales’ tally of 533 runs is the 2nd most by any player for Sydney Thunder behind his own total of 576 runs in 2019-20 edition. No player other than Hales has scored over 450 runs in an edition of BBL for Thunder.

3 – Hales became only the 3rd player in the Big Bash League to amass 500+ runs in multiple editions. Marcus Stoinis and D’Arcy Short are the other two players with multiple editions of 500+ runs in the BBL.

Weatherald @ 1000 runs:

1033 – Jake Weatherald became the first player to amass 1000 runs in the Twenty20 format at the Adelaide Oval when he went past his individual score of 47. Weatherald is also the 3rd player to score 1000+ runs at a venue in the Big Bash League after Aaron Finch (1122 runs at Docklands) and Chris Lynn (1077 runs at Gabba).

Sangha’s record season:

21 – Number of wickets for Tanveer Sangha in the BBL 2020-21; the joint-most by a spin bowler in a single edition of the BBL. Left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe also has 21 wickets to his name during the 2018-19 season while representing Sydney Sixers.

A record fifty from Hales:

11 – Number of fifty-plus scores for Alex Hales in the Big Bash League thus far including a hundred; the most number of 50+ scores in the BBL by an overseas player surpassing Kevin Pietersen’s 10 fifties. As many as ten of Hales’ 11 fifty-plus scores in the BBL came while playing for Thunder which is the 2nd most by any player for the franchise behind Usman Khawaja’s 11.