Australia's star all-rounder Daniel Sams did the unthinkable and pulled off a heist with his batting blitzkrieg in the Big Bash League (BBL) 2024-2025 match on Tuesday, December 17, at the Manuka Oval in Canberra. Sydney Thunder's Daniel Sams turned the match on its head took the game away from Adelaide Strikers by tonking 31 runs in the penultimate over.
Daniel Sams wreaks havoc to win it for Sydney Thunder
Daniel Sams, who went unsold in the IPL 2025 mega auction, unleashed fury on the 25-year-old Adelaide Strikers leg-spinner Lloyd Pope and steered Sydney Thunder to a thrilling two-wicket win from a seemingly hopeless situation.
Adelaide Strikers while batting first set a daunting target of 183 runs for Sydney Thunders to chase. Jake Weatherald (40), Jamie Overton (45), James Bazley (31), and Alex Ross (22) delivered with the bat and rallied them to a competitive total. Sydney Thunder's bowling attack, spearheaded by Lockie Ferguson (3 wickets), Chris Green (3 wickets), and Tanveer Sangha (2 wickets), kept the Strikers in check.
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In reply, batting sensation Sam Konstas, who recently stuck a century for Australia's Prime Minister's XI against India in the pink-ball warm-up match, stole the show as he smashing the fastest fifty in Sydney Thunder history, thus became the youngest player ever to score a half-century in the BBL.
Following Konstas' dismissal for 56 off 27 balls, Sam Billings (29) and Oliver Davies (23) chipped in with valuable contributions to the chase. However, the Thunder were struggling to keep pace with the required run rate, and the match was slipping away from them.
With the 18th over ending, the Thunder had a task cut out as they needed 34 runs from the final two overs to win the match, which almost looked impossible. The Adelaide Strikers brought back leg-spinner Lloyd Pope, who had conceded only 17 runs in his first three overs. Sensing an opportunity, Daniel Sams turned batting monster and took the spinner to the cleaners in the 19th over. In an explosive display of power hitting, Sams smashed two consecutive sixes off the first two balls, followed by a wide. He then added a four and another six, before smashing two more fours to complete a 31-run over.
With three runs needed from the final over, the Thunder lost a wicket on the first ball. However, they managed to score the remaining runs, clinching the match by two wickets. Sams ended up scoring 18-ball 42 riding on four boundaries and three sixes.