The Sydney Thunder have gone down by 91 runs to the Brisbane Heat to end their inaugural KFC T20 Big Bash League campaign.
Thunder skipper Daniel Smith won the toss and elected to bowl first on a wicket that had been under the covers for two solid days.
The Thunder handed debuts to all-rounder Matt Day and fast bowler Nic Bills.
Bills had the perfect start when he dismissed Brendon McCullum for 6. Sean Abbott took a great catch running back at cover to give Bills his first Thunder wicket.
Scott Coyte picked up the valuable wicket of Matthew Hayden for 6 shortly after, when he hit a pull shot to Luke Doran at mid on.
The Thunder had the Heat 2/14 until Andrew Robinson came in and made an aggressive 25 before Nic Bills picked up his second wicket to have the Heat 3/44.
Peter Forrest and Daniel Christian steadied the innings for the Heat and put on an 80 run partnership before Forrest (33) hit a full-toss from Luke Doran to Day at square leg to leave the Heat at 4/124.
Man of the match Christian (75 off 47 balls) and Chris Lynn (37 off 17 balls) put on a powerful batting display in the final five overs to post an impressive 4/195 for the Heat including 21 off Sean Abbott's final over.
The Thunder’s run chase started poorly with Chris Gayle and Tim Cruickshank both dismissed without scoring by Alister McDermott.
From that point on the Thunder were always behind the eight ball with the Heat bowlers in complete control.
Usman Khawaja showed some fight and top scored with 37 off 36 balls while the wickets of Dunk (6), Smith (2) and Armstrong (4) fell around him.
When Khawaja departed the Thunder were 6/54 and were never in the hunt to chase down the Heat’s huge total.
Sean Abbott (22 off 22 balls) and Matthew Day (29 off 20 balls) gained some valuable experience at the crease and remained not out after the 20 overs with the Thunder on 6/104.
The Thunder were outplayed by the Heat who move up to fourth spot on the Big Bash League table while the loss by the Thunder sees them sitting at the bottom of the ladder on net run rate.
The Thunder would like to thank all our fans for their support during the season and hope to see everyone at ANZ Stadium for next season’s Big Bash League.