Twitter Reactions: Tom Curran's all-round show guides Sydney Sixers to a thrilling win against the Thunder in the super over

Tom Curran smashed 35 runs off 17 balls and took two wickets against Sydney Thunder.

By Jasvinder Singh

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Tom Curran
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Tom Curran.

Sydney Thunder, the leader in the BBL league table locked horns with Sydney Sixers in the 14th game of the tournament. It turned out to be a nail-biting encounter for the spectators as the winner was decided in the super over. However, it was Tom Curran’s all-round brilliance that led the Sixers to a thrilling win by one run against the Thunder at Sydney Cricket Ground.

Earlier, the Thunder won the toss and elected to bat. The openers Usman Khawaja and Alex Hales proved their skipper’s decision right and helped the team to get off to a steady start. The duo stitched a brilliant partnership of 48 runs in first five overs of the innings.

Ferguson propels Thunder to 149

However, the opening stand was broken by Sixers fast bowler Sean Abbott, who dismissed settled left-handed batsman Khawaja. The Aussie international attempted a mistimed stroke and was caught by Jackson Bird at the covers. In the next two overs, Thunder lost their top-order batsmen, Alex Hales and Matthew Gilkes. This left Thunder struggling at a score of 53 runs with three wickets after getting off to a good start.

Later on, Thunder’s skipper Callum Ferguson, who is in red-hot form in the ongoing tournament, put up another brilliant display of batting. He muscled 52 runs off just 42 balls with three boundaries and one six. Also, he helped his team post a competitive total of 149 runs in stipulated 20 overs. Alex Ross also contributed valuable 26 runs off 22 balls.

Sixers leg break spinner Lloyd Pope turned out to be the best bowler for his side as he registered brilliant bowling figures of 3/23. Fast bowlers Tom Curran and Sean Abbott also took two wickets each.

Curran wins it for the Sixers

Coming onto the chase, Sixers got off to a worse possible start as they lost their in-form opener, Hayden Kerr, in the first over of the innings. Josh Philippe also failed to replicate his form and was dismissed after scoring 11 runs. However, Daniel Hughes scored 37 runs before his knock came to a halt. The left-handed batsman was inside-edged the ball onto his stumps off Chris Green.

From the other end, Sixers skipper Moises Henriques looked in fine touch, who was smashing the opposition bowlers all across the park. He muscled 41 runs off 30 balls with two big sixes. However, in the crucial moments of the match, he lost his nerves and got out after playing an irresponsible shot off Daniel Sams. He failed to anticipate the slower delivery and was caught by his counterpart.

In the end, all the hopes were on Tom Curran, who was given Man of the Match in the previous game for his exceptional all-round performance against Perth Scorchers. He looked in full flow too plundering runs. In the last over, Sixers required 16 runs with Curran on the strike while Chris Tremain was the bowler. Curran smashed a six off the first delivery and managed to get a boundary at a crucial stage to bring the equation down to 2 off 1.

However, the England international could eke out only a single and the match went into the super over. The tie-breaking over for Thunder was bowled by Chris Morris, who dismissed Tom Curran on his first delivery. But, he gave away 16 runs on his next five balls against Henriques and Hughes. Curran wasn’t done yet though as he was handed over the ball to defend those runs.

He was hit for a double on his first delivery followed by a single on the next three balls. Alex Hales smashed a six on the penultimate ball of the over and brought the equation to six runs off one ball. However, Curran darted a perfect wide yorker that was hit for a boundary by the right-handed batsman. That wasn’t enough though as the Thunder fell agonisingly short of the target.

The Sydney Thunder also lost their top spot in the points table though they have played a game less compared to the Sydney Sixers.

Here is how Twitter reacted: 

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