The 12th season of the Big Bash League kicked off on Tuesday as Melbourne Stars and Sydney Thunders locked horns in the opening encounter. The fans were treated with a final-ball thriller in the first match itself as Sydney Thunder won the match by 1 wicket on the final ball. Trent Boult made a mark in his first-ever BBL game and picked up 2/21 in 4 overs. However, it was the substitute fielder Brody Couch who stole the show with his stunning catches.
Couch first took a crazy juggling catch to dismiss opener, Matthew Gilkes, for a duck. He further left the crowd stunned with his sensational one-handed grab at long-off to send Chris Green back to the pavilion with Thunder still requiring 8 to win off the last five balls with just two wickets in hand.
Watch Brody Couch’s stunning catches here:
Brody Couch took 'specialist fielder' to a new level last night! #BBL12 pic.twitter.com/yejYidiSF1
— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) December 14, 2022
Sydney Thunder beat Melbourne Stars by one wicket in thrilling opening encounter
Coming back to the match, Sydney Thunder captain Jason Sangha won the toss and invited Melbourne Stars to bat first. The Star’s batting failed to get going as only one batter could cross the 20-run mark in their innings. Nick Larkin was the top-scorer with 25 off 26 balls as the Stars finished their innings on 122/8 at the end of 20 overs.
All bowlers from Thunders were amongst the wickets as Gurinder Sandhu, Fazalhaq Farooqi and Daniel Sams picked up two wickets each. Brendan Doggett and Chris Green also picked up one wicket each.
Defending a low total, Stars got the perfect start from left-arm seamer Trent Boult who picked up back-to-back wickets of Matthew Gikes and Rilee Rossouw in the first over of the innings. Stars bowlers kept chipping in with the wickets throughout the innings and didn’t let Thunders run away with the game. However, they couldn’t stop them from winning the game as Gurinder Sandhu held his nerve in the last over and took his team home. He remained unbeaten on 20 off 16 balls smashing two fours and one six in his innings.
Nathan Coulter-Nile was the pick of the bowlers for Stars who picked up 3/19 in his four overs while Trent Boult, Adam Zampa and Beau Webster picked up two wickets each.
