Caribbean Times 80th Issue - Friday 20th January 2017

16 c a r i b b e a n t i m e s . a g
Friday 20th January 2017
Pollard’s best sends Thunder tumbling
SYDNEY, Australia –
Kieron Pollard produced a
season-best knock to hand
Carlos Brathwaite’s Sydney
Thunder a solid 77-run
defeat here Wednesday and
end the reigning champions’
dream of reaching the playoffs
of the Big Bash League.
The big-hitting Pollard
slammed 47 off 22 deliveries
to help the previously
bottom placed Adelaide
Strikers rack up 178 for five
off their 20 overs at the Sydney
Showground Stadium.
Needing to win to have
any chance of reaching the
next round, Sydney were
then undermined by New
Zealand leg-spinner Ish
Sodhi who snatched six for
11, as the hosts tumbled to
an embarrassing 101 all out
in the 16th over.
The defeat left Thunder
as one of four teams on six
points but bottom of the
standings courtesy of net
run rate, following their preliminary
round campaign.
Strikers, already eliminated,
moved up to fifth on
six points.
Keiron Pollard
Sent in, Strikers benefitted
from a top score of 65
off 40 balls from opener
Ben Dunk, who put on 92
for the second wicket with
captain Brad Hodge whose
39 came from 32 balls.
Pollard, arriving at the
crease in the 13th over,
smashed five sixes to give
the visitors momentum
down the stretch.
Brathwaite, in his third
game for Thunder, finished
with one for 33 from his
four overs of medium pace.
In reply, the hosts were
cruising at 60 for one in the
eighth over but suffered a
sudden collapse to lose their
last eight wickets for 41
runs in the space of 45 deliveries.
Captain Shane Watson
struck 39 and opener Kurtis
Patterson, 29, in a second
wicket partnership worth
58, but were the only two
batsmen to reach double
figures.
Brathwaite, batting at
number five, faced just two
deliveries before he was
bowled by Sodhi in the 12th
over at 81 for four.
Pollard, who shared the
new-ball, picked up one for
36 from three overs of slow
medium. (CMC)