2015-16 Big Bash League Final Sunday January 24,2016 - Sydney Thunder beats Melbourne Stars to clinch title

The Sydney Thunder gave captain Michael Hussey the perfect send-off from Australian cricket when they beat the Melbourne Stars by 3 wickets to win the Big Bash League on Sunday January 24,2016

 

Sydney Thunder won the toss and put Melbourne Stars to bat first at MCG and Melbourne Stars scored 176/9 in 20 Overs

 

For Sydney Thunder's Usman Khawaja (70) played an innings of similar quality to get Sydney's run chase off to a perfect start. He and fellow opener Jacques Kallis (28) put on 86 before the South African holed out in the deep to Pietersen off Adam Zampa.

Shane Watson came and went quickly before Khawaja holed out to backward point to leave the  Thunder 54 runs short with six-and-a-half overs remaining.

But Michael Hussey, playing his final match in Australia, hit a quickfire 18 to get the Sydney Thunder back on track, and useful contributions from Aiden Blizzard (16) and Ben Rohrer (13 not out) got them home
Scorecard
Melbourne Stars 176/9 in 20 Overs
Sydney Thunder 181/7 in 19.3 Overs
Match Result - Sydney  Thunder won the match by 3 Wickets
MOM - Usman Khawaja(Sydney Thunder)for his 70 Runs(40 Balls 4x5 and 6x3)

Player of the Series -


The fifth BBL final was a tale of two innings, and two collapses.

Kevin Pietersen who is in marvellous form, scored 74, before Usman Khawaja who is in simply superhuman touch, made 70 which, as wickets tumbled, proved enough to hand Sydney Thunder their first title.

Usman Khawaja ends the BBL with 345 runs in four innings, three of which were genuinely match-winning

Sydney Thunder had never finished outside the bottom two for the first four seasons and 2015-16 has been a topsy-turvy one too.

Sydney Thunder lost four consecutive games after winning their first three and only crept into the finals when their fate was beyond their control.


Cricket is a game of statistics, often trivial ones. One number has towered above all others this summer in Australia, a figure that Melbourne Stars coach Stephen Fleming said would send shockwaves through the cricketing world.

That number is 80,833 the crowd figure for the BBL Match between the Stars and the Melbourne Renegades at the MCG on January02,2016

Sport is part of Melbourne's identity. It was the first Olympic host city outside the northern hemisphere. It hosts Grand Slam tennis and a Formula One Grand Prix. Test cricket started in Melbourne. But in terms of pulling crowds to domestic sport, the Australian Football League leads the way

The 2015–16 Big Bash League season or BBL|05 was the fifth season that wa played during December 17,2015 to January 24,2016

The 8 Team that played this year's tournament are -

• Adelaide Strikers Captained by Brad Hodge
• Brisbane Heat Captained by Chris Lynn
• Hobart Hurricanes Captained by Tim Paine (WK)
• Melbourne Renegades Captained by Aaron Finch
• Melbourne Stars Captained by David Hussey
• Pert Scorchers Captained by Adam Voges
• Sydney Sixers Captained by Nic Maddinson
• Sydney Thunder Captained by Michael Hussey

Each team played 8 Group Stage Matches, 4 at home and 4 away, before the top four ranked teams progressed to the Semi Finals.

The Final of the tournament was played at the home ground of the highest-ranked team

2015-16 BBL Points Table

Teams	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts
Strik	8	7	1	0	0	14
MelbS	8	5	3	0	0	10
Scorc	8	5	3	0	0	10
SydTh	8	4	4	0	0	8
MelbR	8	3	5	0	0	6
Heat	8	3	5	0	0	6
Hurri	8	3	5	0	0	6
SydSi	8	2	6	0	0	4