AN UNBEATEN 86 from skipper David Warner helped the Sydney Thunder set a big enough total to see off Melbourne Renegades at ENGIE Stadium last night. The home side has started the season strongly and now the Thunder joins fellow Sydney side the Sixers at the top of the BBL ladder.

In grabbing the win, the Thunder leapfrog the now 2-2 Renegades who had won consecutive matches leading into Monday night’s huge clash, with Warner hitting his largest BBL score in 13 years. The former Australian opener was on song despite having few partners around him, hitting 53 more runs than his next highest teammate and ending with 86 off 57 balls and surviving the entire innings.

Warner’s knock was complemented at the end by a 69-run partnership with Matthew Gilkes, who came in with the side at 4-87 in the 14th over and also saw out the rest of the innings. The Thunder took a while to get going but with Warner in, always remained dangerous, though the remaining four batsmen scored 11 runs or less.

Chasing a total of 4-156, the Renegades were set a solid task, and hit the ground running by surpassing the Thunder’s total by the end of the Power Play and not losing a wicket in the process (0-33). That soon changed with the next seven overs yielding four wickets for the home team – to four different bowlers – and Melbourne slumped to 4-68 by the second last ball of the 11th over.

Sensing urgency in the run rate was needed given the loss of key wickets, the Renegades opted for the Power Surge, with Laurie Evans hitting two sixes off three balls to get the run chase ramped up. He and Mackenzie Harvey only managed one more boundary throughout the two overs and in the end added 24 more runs, though critically, without losing a wicket.

Just when the innings was looking up for the Renegades, Wes Agar took the ball and dismissed Harvey and then Renegades skipper Will Sutherland with a golden duck the very next ball. That ripped the heart out of the visitors as the Gades’ slipped to 6-95. Given very little chance to recover, they kept fighting to their credit and managed to eke out another 52 runs in the last five overs but it would not be enough.

Agar would finish the pick of the bowlers taking 4-32 off four overs and right in contention for Player of the Match, though that deservedly went to Warner for his lone hand in building the total score. Daniel Sams also took a couple of wickets for the home side in another strong performance to make it three wins from four games.

Melbourne Renegades next play on January 2 when they head back to Marvel Stadium to take on Adelaide Strikers, while Sydney Thunder head west to Perth Stadium to tackle the Scorchers on January 3.

SCORECARD

RESULT: Thunder won by 8 runs
POTM: David Warner (Sydney Thunder)
BAT FLIP: Renegades won and elected to bowl

Sydney Thunder
David Warner 86* (57), Matthew Gilkes 23* (21)
Kane Richardson 1-24 (4), Adam Zampa 1-30 (4)

Melbourne Renegades
Laurie Evans 40 (26), Jake Fraser-McGurk 26 (27)
Wes Agar 4-32 (4), Daniel Sams 2-26 (4), Christ Green 1-23 (4)

INNINGS BREAKDOWN:

Power Play (1-4):
Thunder: 1-30
Renegades: 0-33

Halfway (10):
Thunder: 3-60
Renegades: 3-64

Power Surge:
Thunder: (14-15): 3-86 to 4-104 (1-18)
Renegades: (12-13): 4-68 to 4-92 (0-24)

Totals:
Thunder: 4-156
Renegades: 8-148

SQUADS

Sydney Thunder: David Warner (c), Cameron Bancroft, Matthew Gilkes, Oliver Davies, Sam Billings (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Chris Green, Daniel Sams, Tom Andrews, Lockie Ferguson, Wes Agar

Melbourne Renegades: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Josh Brown, Tim Seifert (wk), Jacob Bethell, Laurie Evans, Mackenzie Harvey, Will Sutherland (c), Fergus O’Neill, Tom Rogers, Adam Zampa, Kane Richardson