Former England star Kevin Pietersen played a lone hand to guide the Melbourne Stars to 176 for nine in the final of the Big Bash League against the Sydney Thunder on Sunday. Khawaja ended the tournament with 345 runs from his four innings, and it was his opening partnership of 86 alongside Jacques Kallis which put the Thunder in position to chase down the lofty total.
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With the likes of Glenn Maxwell and James Faulkner unavailable due to worldwide selection, the Melbourne Stars were always likely to rely on their top order for the bulk of their runs.
Shane Watson, who picked up Stoinis’ wicket was the man to dismiss Wright, with a bit of luck. The wicket bought Pietersen to the crease, who got in the grove from ball one looking to take the attack to the Thunder. Pietersen kept going at the Thunder bowlers, while wickets kept falling at regular intervals at the other end.
The player most responsible for the successful chase was Kevin Pietersen (62 off 36 balls).
Then Pietersen powered the Stars into this weekend’s final. After reaching 74 from 38 balls, he mistimed a push back down the ground off the bowling of Chris Green, giving Green a tame catch off his own bowling.
He survived a huge shout for LBW on 37 that replays showed had a lot of merit, but his classy innings underlined his stellar run of form.
The Scorchers’ scoring was particularly hampered by the large MCG boundaries, Klinger and Cameron Bancroft (13no) hitting their only two maximums.
Despite some jitters after Khawaja’s dismissal, the Thunder still managed to creep home with Ben Roher clubbing the winning runs with three balls remaining.
The Stars’ hoodoo of having lost all four of their preceding semi-finals, three of them against the Scorchers, lingered as they crawled to 1-15 off their first four overs.
Perth, bidding for a third straight Big Bash League title, were sent in by Stars skipper David Hussey.
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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 22: Brad Hogg of the Perth Scorchers celebrates taking the wicket of Marcus Stoinis of the Melbourne Stars during the Big Bash League Semi Final match between the Melbourne Stars and the Perth Scorchers at Melbourne Cricket Ground on January 22, 2016 in Melbourne, Australia.
