THE lowly Adelaide Strikers ended the Sydney Thunder’s hopes of defending their Big Bash title last night, thanks to a spin master class from Ish Sodhi.
The Thunder needed a win to have a hope of playing in the Big Bash League finals, but a batting collapse, triggered by the spin of Sodhi, saw the team bow out of the race.
Sodhi, a leg spinner from New Zealand, but born in India, finished the match with figures of 6-11 from 3.3 overs.
The Thunder, chasing 178, were hapless against the spin, as Sodhi dismissed all but one of the bottom seven batsmen, including Hawkesbury Cricket Club’s Arjun Nair.
Shane Watson and Kurtis Patterson were the only Thunder batsmen to have any luck against the Strikers, but once Watson went for 39, the Thunder faded quickly.
Nair went for a second ball duck, while Clint McKay, not a noted batsman, had the highest score after Watson’s 39 and Patterson’s 28, with eight runs.
In the first innings, the Thunder struggled to take wickets against the Strikers.
There were two runs outs, and only three wickets off bowling.
Nair did take a catch to dismiss Strikers captain Brad Hodge off the bowling of Watson.
Nair bowled two overs and went for 16 runs in the match.
