England bowlers haven’t enjoyed a great deal of success in Australia this summer, but Saqib Mahmood went some way towards rectifying that during last night’s BBL match.
Making his debut for the Sydney Thunder against Brisbane Heat at the Gabba, Mahmood had the incredible figures of 4-9 after his first two overs, as the home side collapsed in spectacular fashion.
The Heat were at one point 5-15, effectively killing the match as any sort of competitive fixture. Brisbane eventually limped to a total of 143, well short of Sydney’s 7-196.
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CricViz analyst Ben Jones confirmed Mahmood became the first player in BBL history to take four wickets before the end of the third over of the innings.
https://twitter.com/benjonescricket/status/1472519663955361796?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Mahmood’s figures took a battering with Tom Cooper hitting consecutive sixes in his third over, leaving him with 4-22 off three, enough to pick up the player-of-the-match
The 24-year-old Mahmood has already played for England in both white-ball formats of the game.
The Thunder’s total was built around 64 from 27 balls by another Englishman, Sam Billings, who hit five fours and five sixes during his whirlwind innings.
Heat bowler James Bazley copped the brunt of the onslaught, conceding 52 runs off his four overs.
The Thunder sit in third spot on the ladder after their second win of the season, while the Heat are seventh.
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