England discarded Kevin Pietersen played a blistering knock of 67 as Melbourne Stars thrashed Sydney Thunders by 8 wickets with 33 balls to spare at Sydney Showground Stadium. This win also kept their semi-finals hopes alive.
Chasing a modest total of 107, Pietersen got a great support from Cameron White as they both put on 76 runs for the second wicket to set the tone for the chase. Pietersen hit 10 boundaries and a six in his knock.
Earlier after being put into bat, Sydney Thunders got off to a worst possible start as they lost their top three wickets for just 9 runs. Aiden Blizzard and all-rounder Andrew McDonald then stabilized the innings but failed to accelerate at the crucial time. The duo added 59 runs off 67 balls. After both of them got out, no other batsman also succeeded in hitting some lusty blows and the Thunders innings ended at 106/8. Michael Beer, John Hastings, Jackson Bird and Clint McKay took 2 wickets each for Stars.
Brief Scores: Sydney Thunders 106/8 (Blizzard 46, McKay 2-14, Beer 2-14) lost to Melbourne Stars 107/2 (Pietersen 67*) by 8 wickets