Sydney Thunder storm into BBL 14 Final after beating Sixers

The Thunder are through to the BBL|14 final after beating fellow Sydney side the Sixers in the challenger final on Friday night at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The four-wicket win, which came with seven balls to spare, was largely due to the efforts of Sam Billings, who struck an unbeaten 42 runs from 29 balls to see the Thunder over the line.

The Sixers batted first and struggled for early momentum, losing openers Kurtis Patterson (11 from 11) and Jack Edwards (7 from 8) inside the powerplay.

Josh Philippe (16 from 12), Moises Henriques (29 from 30) and Jordan Silk (43 from 30) then provided a nice base for the Sixers, with Silk finding company from Ben Dwarshuis (30 from 20) in the latter overs.

Still, the Sixers never really got on top of the Thunder bowlers, ending on 7/151 from their 20 overs.

In response, the Thunder started well, putting on 29 and 36 runs, respectively, for the first two wickets.

Matthew Gilkes (26 from 22) and Billings kept the momentum going, but the chase was not without its brief wobbles.

Chris Green (15 from 14) and George Garton (2 from 3) both fell in the space of four balls, leaving the Thunder six down with 22 runs still required off the final two and a half overs.

A brilliant penultimate over by Nathan McAndrew made sure any concern was short-lived for Thunder fans, however, pummelling 19 runs to send his side through to their first BBL final in nine years.

“Didn’t play our perfect game, but hope we’ll save it for the final,” player-of-the-match Billings said afterwards.

“We’re finding our way and are happy.

“Great thing about this tournament is we’ve played two finals in quick succession.

“We’ve got experience who’ll keep the youngsters calm.

“All to play for, against the best team, in their home.

“Really looking forward to it.”

T20 betting sites have the Thunder at long odds to pull off an upset against the top-of-the-table Hobart Hurricanes, who they face in the final on Monday evening.

The leading online bookmakers are paying $2.30 for the Thunder to win while the Hurricanes sit at a low $1.62 to claim the BBL 14 title.

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