Khawaja 70 hands Thunder maiden title

ESPNCricinfo: The fifth BBL final was a tale of two innings, and two collapses. Kevin Pietersen, who is in marvellous form, scored 74, before Usman Khawaja, who is in simply superhuman touch, made 70 which, as wickets tumbled, proved enough to hand Sydney Thunder their first title.

For the first four seasons, Thunder never finished outside the bottom two. Even this has been a topsy-turvy season, as they lost four consecutive games after winning their first three and only crept into the finals when their fate was beyond their control. Since, however, they have been clinical.

Khawaja had considered quitting the western Sydney (the area he grew up in) franchise, but opted to stay after a chat two years ago with Michael Hussey, whom the club pursued desperately to mastermind a rebuild. Thunder have won only 11 out of 41 matches since the Big Bash’s inception and Hussey has been at the helm of nine of them, including a final on the same day Thunder won the inaugural Women’s BBL too.

In his final game on Australian soil, Hussey was given a guard of honour by Stars led by their captain, his brother, David Hussey, as he walked to the crease. He left, 18 runs later, to a standing ovation; fortunately for him, his team-mates finished the job.