Stellar Stars return to top of table

The match in a tweet: Stars surge to the top of #BBL09 ladder as Rauf's wacky, wonderful and stump-smashing tournament continues before a dramatic late batting collapse

The score: Sydney Thunder 7-142 (Ross 40; Rauf 3-24) lost to Melbourne Stars 7-143 (Larkin 65, Stoinis 58) by three wickets with two balls to spare.

The collapse

It must have been a familiar feeling for the Stars, who famously lost last season's final after a horror collapse against the Renegades, and this time they lost 6-19 in an astonishing finish to an otherwise sedate game.

Stars lose six wickets in 19 balls in stunning late collapse

With just 20 runs needed and nine wickets in hand, Chris Morris removed Nick Larkin and Marcus Stoinis in the same over before Daniel Sams got Glenn Maxwell and then Ben Dunk for a golden duck to put himself on a hat-trick and leave the Thunder believing they could pinch a late victory.

Tension only increased in the final over when the Stars again lost two wickets in as many balls with the scores level, before Adam Zampa kept out Nathan McAndrew’s hat-trick ball to hit the winning runs and spare the visitors' blushes.

The heroes

Despite the dramatic finish, it was Stoinis and the lesser-known Larkin who played the game's defining hands on a slow Sydney Showgrounds pitch that had confounded the Thunder top order.

Chasing 7-142, the pair cleverly picked their moments to take on the Thunder's bowlers in a clinical 123-run partnership for the second wicket.

Stoinis slugs Thunder in crucial knock at the Showgrounds

Stoinis typically attacked the shorter straight boundaries on the sluggish surface when they pitched up, blasting the biggest six of the night over wide long on off Thunder first-gamer Brendon Doggett. His 51-ball 58 continued his superb BBL09, increasing his tournament average to 53.

Cross-batted strokes proved difficult for every other batter bar Larkin, a 29-year-old who has played T20 cricket for Ireland, as he broke the shackles after a subdued start in the Power Play with a front-foot pull for four off Doggett.

Larkin lets loose with crucial 65

Larkin slog-swept Chris Green for a towering six over mid-wicket, before repeating the stroke to bring up his first BBL fifty in his 11th innings. He eventually fell for 65 off just 45 deliveries, but he and Stoinis had broken the back of the run chase, which they overhauled despite a late wobble.

The conundrum

Haris Rauf, the uncapped and previously-unknown Pakistani fast bowler who was never supposed to play in the BBL, continued his unconventionally brilliant tournament.

Whisked in from Hobart club cricket as a late fill-in for Dale Steyn, he was back to face the Thunder following an injury to the Stars' other international, leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane, and again put together a compelling case for re-selection.

Grabbing the scalps of Golden Cap wearer Callum Ferguson, top-scorer Alex Ross and power-hitter Daniel Sams, Rauf finished with 3-24 and sent down some of the tough death overs.

Rauf continues remarkable rise with three huge wickets

The 26-year-old, whose action Mark Waugh says is reminiscent of Indian ace Jasprit Bumrah, remains very raw. Captain Glenn Maxwell was visibly frustrated with him at times during the Thunder innings, with his delivery choice seemingly not matching the field set for him on occasion. But his immense pace meant it often did not matter.

Whether he gets another game with Lamichhane set to return – the spinner is tipped to be available for Saturday night’s Melbourne derby - and young English quick Pat Brown coming in for Steyn after Saturday's match remains to be seen.

The 'anti-spin'

Glenn Maxwell's decision to open the bowling with himself could hardly have worked out better, clean bowling both dangerous Thunder openers Alex Hales and Usman Khawaja, while conceding just six runs from his first two overs.

The secret? Well, it wasn't prodigious turn, according to keeper Peter Handscomb, who described Maxwell's deliveries on Fox Cricket as 'anti-spin', so unlikely were they to actually deviate after pitching.

The stat

Maxwell's scalp of Khawaja for just one was huge given the history of the former Test No.3 against the Stars. No batter in BBL history has done better against Melbourne's green team than Khawaja, who, coming into Thursday's game, averaged 62 and held a strike-rate of 155 when playing the Stars.

The consolation effort

Alex Ross played a valiant hand after his more credentialed top-order teammates had failed, posting 40 off 32 deliveries to give the Thunder a solid total to bowl at.

It was far from his most fluent knock; in at 3-39 in the seventh over, Ross was dropped on two by Handscomb and then was fortunate to survive an lbw shout off Rauf on three.

But a reverse-sweep from the man dubbed the 'Sweepologist' got him going and he smashed a pair of sixes off Adam Zampa in a crucial hand of 40 off 32 balls to see the Thunder reach 142, a total Ross later said was "around par".

The duck

With previous scores this season of 0, 0 not out, 0 and 0, Sams - a bowling allrounder who has made handy contributions for the Thunder in recent seasons - finally broke his duck on Thursday. An ill-timed swipe brought his first run of the tournament, with the knowledgeable 14,435-strong Thunder-supporting crowd giving him a hearty applause.

The next stop

A huge game for the Stars in two days' time sees them take on cross-town rivals Melbourne Renegades in a rematch of last year's epic final. Unlike the decider, this one will be played at the MCG, the Stars' first game there this summer. The Thunder remain at home during a four-day break as they get ready to host Brisbane Heat on Monday at the Showgrounds.

Thunder XI: Usman Khawaja, Alex Hales, Callum Ferguson (c), Matthew Gilkes (wk), Alex Ross, Chris Morris, Daniel Sams, Arjun Nair, Chris Green, Nathan McAndrew, Brendan Doggett

Stars XI: Marcus Stoinis, Peter Handscomb (wk), Nick Larkin, Glenn Maxwell (capt), Ben Dunk, Nic Maddinson, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Clint Hinchliffe, Adam Zampa, Dale Steyn, Haris Rauf