Shane Watson winds back clock with thumping half-century
Shane Watson has wound back the clock to guide the Sydney Thunder to 6-168 in their Big Bash League clash with the Adelaide Strikers.
Watson put on his first half-century of the tournament at Spotless Stadium on Sunday, bashing 68 off 40 balls including five sixes and four fours in a captain's knock.
The home side looked headed for a big score at 2-119 after nine overs however the Strikers successfully applied the brakes.
The Thunder at one point lost three wickets for seven runs and went eight overs without a boundary.
They lost Jason Sangha (30) – who looked promising after helping to rebuild the Thunder's innings with a 77-run partnership with Watson – and Daniel Sams (0) in one Billy Stanlake over.
Former Test all-rounder Watson was guilty of throwing his wicket away when he mis-timed a Michael Neser full toss to bring his entertaining innings to an end.
The Thunder smashed 20 runs off the final Ben Laughlin over – thanks to some big hitting from Jay Lenton (27 off 16) – to set the Strikers a healthy target.
Stanlake (2-31) fought back well after copping some early stick while spin sensation Rashid Khan was once again inspirational with 2-21 including the wickets of New Zealand all-rounder Anton Devcich (21) and Callum Ferguson (0).
AAP