The Big Bash League side Sydney Thunder on Friday night set an unwanted record, slumping to the lowest-ever score in the history of T20 game against Adelaide Strikers in the BBL Season 12 here.
The Australian domestic T20 league team, which had England's T20 World Cup winner Alex Hales, a much-travelled T20 expert who has played in Pakistan Super League and Caribbean Premier League besides BBL, in their ranks were shot out for just 15 runs in 35 deliveries in a dramatic encounter at the Sydney Showground Stadium.
The Thunder's total is the lowest-ever scored in a T20 match, beating Turkey's 21 all out against the Czech Republic back in 2019. The Sydney Thunder were chasing a target of 140 in 20 overs after restricting Adelaide Strikes to what looked like a modest total thanks to some good work by their bowlers.
Fazalhaq Farooqi claimed 3-20 while Gurinder Sandhu (2-28), Daniel Sams (2/23) and Brendan Doggett (2-24) bagged two wickets apiece. However, the match took a dramatic turn in the second innings as Sydney Thunder were bowled out for 15 runs in 5,5 overs with none of their batter reaching double digits while four ended with zeros against their names.
Henry Thornton claimed 5-3 in 2.5 overs while Wes Agar ended with 4-6 in 2 overs as Sydney Thunder, which had internationals like Alex Hales and Rilee Rossouw in their ranks, were blown apart.
Sydney's abject capitulation left England Test captain Ben Stokes totally stunned. Following the match from Karachi where his team is stationed for the third and final Test against Pakistan, Stokes took to twitter to react to the record low score.
"8-10 off 5," he wrote alongside a series of mind blown emojis. Australian media reported the Player of the Match, Henry Thornton was also in shock after the match and could not believe how low Sydney Thunder's score was.
"Even in the backyard, they are my best figures!" he was quoted as saying. "I don't think we can believe it. They nicked everything and we caught everything. It was amazing. It was a great all-round performance and it's a great feeling."