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England bowler Saqib Mahmood made a dream Big Bash League (BBL) debut for Sydney Thunder as he made the new ball talk. In just two overs, Saqib Mahmood’s four-wicket haul reduced Brisbane Heat for 15/5 in 2.5 overs including the run out of Max Bryant.
Opening the bowling for Thunder, Saqib was hit for a boundary off the first he bowled to Chris Lynn. The hard-hitting opener lost his wicket off the third ball as he failed to clear the mid-off fielder Alex Hales. Off the fifth ball of the first over, Ben Duckett played a poor shot and gave an easy catch to point fielder Matthew Gilkes.
On the first ball of his second over, the 24-year-old pacer got another wicket. Sam Heazlett tried to pull but a top edge off his bat went high up in the sky and into the hands of Daniel Sams at square leg. Next ball, the panic got the better of Brisbane batters as Bryant was too slow to go for the second run. The next two deliveries were dot balls. On the fifth ball of the second over, Brisbane skipper Jimmy Peirson timed the shot sweetly but straight into the hands of Ben Cutting. Peirson got out for a duck with half the side back in the dugout. He gave just a single and picked up two wickets in his second over.
The third over Saqib bowled turned out to be an expensive one as Tom Cooper launched a counter-attack and hit him for two consecutive sixes. The English bowler did not get to complete his four-over spell as skipper Chris Green saved his last over for later. Green saved his over for last amidst record-breaking highest eighth wicket partnership of 79 runs between Xavier Bartlett and Mark Steketee. Green could have used him for the penultimate or the final over but Brisbane got bundled out for 143 in the 18th over and Saqib missed out a chance on taking a fifer on debut. He finished with 22/4 in three overs.
Earlier another Englishman starred for Thunder in the first innings. Sam Billings registered his BBL career-best 64 off just 27 deliveries to help the side post 196/7. Hales also contributed with a 26-ball 35 getting the team off to a flier in powerplay overs.
