New Delhi: Australia’s Big Bash League, season 13, has started to heat up the semi-final race early on as few teams are running away with the lead in the early matches of the season.
In match number 7, played between the Melbourne Starts and Perth Scorchers, at Australia’s iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, the visiting team registered a thumping win to cement their place in the top 4 of the points table.
Earlier, Perth Scorchers’ skipper Ashton Turner won the toss and invited the Marcus Stoinis-led Melbourne Stars to bat first.
Scorchers kept the Stars’ batters on the back foot since the beginning with regular wickets.
Starts lost two wickets inside the first powerplay after losing Sam Harper (1) and Beau Webster (4), inside the first 10 ball of the innings.
However, first Thomas Rogers (22) and Marcus Stoinis (13), and then Hilton Cartwright (24) and Liam Dawson (22), tried to revive the Stars’ innings, but with Scorchers taking wickets at regular intervals, they only managed to post a small total of 101, on the board.
Dawson laps the ball over fine leg for a neat boundary! #BBL13 pic.twitter.com/zAToGFmOyN
— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) December 13, 2023
Jason Behrendorff was the most successful bowler for the Scorchers with his impressive spell of 3 for 28. Jhye Richardson and Hamish McKenzie took two wickets each, while Cooper Connolly, Andrew Tye and Aaron Hardie also took one wicket each.
A double-wicket maiden 🤯🤯
Jason Behrendorff had the ball on a string at the MCG! #BBL13 #GoldenMoment @BKTtires pic.twitter.com/2s2TbQeQSy
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 13, 2023
In reply, Scorchers started great with all three of their top 3, Stevie Eskinazi (25), Copper Connolly (20) and Aaron Hardie (20), playing small but handy knocks in the small chase.
Beauuuutiful push down the ground from Eskinazi! 🏏 #BBL13 pic.twitter.com/kMFCywv0uw
— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) December 13, 2023
Skipper Ashton Turner (19*) and Josh Inglish (17*) gave the finishing touch to take their team over the line with seven wickets and 37 balls to spare and hand the Stars their second successive loss of the season.
Turner seeing beach balls here! 🏖️ #BBL13 pic.twitter.com/JN390Uan7H
— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) December 13, 2023
In bowling, Joel Paris, Liam Dawson and Usama Mir took one wicket each for the Stars.
Dawson takes his first and the Scorchers openers are gone! 🌀#BBL13 pic.twitter.com/4gdVDGUxqe
— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) December 13, 2023
Check out the complete points table below:
Job done ✅ @ScorchersBBL #BBL13 pic.twitter.com/hHHLyVcGuK
— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) December 13, 2023
| S.no | Teams | M | W | L | NR | PTS | NRR |
| 1 | Sydney Sixers | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | +0.43 |
| 2 | Brisbane Heat | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | +5.15 |
| 3 | Perth Scorchers | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | +2.32 |
| 4 | Adelaide Strikers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.00 |
| 5 | Melbourne Renegades | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | -0.40 |
| 6 | Sydney Thunders | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| 7 | Hobart Hurricanes | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -0.44 |
| 8 | Melbourne Stars | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -4.04 |
