Hussey fifty in vain as Thunder lose again

Brisbane Heat 5 for 165 (Lynn 56, Nannes 3-21) beat Sydney Thunder 117 (Hussey 60, Gannon 4-10) by 48 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Again Michael Hussey played superbly, again his team-mates crumbled around him and Sydney Thunder lost their 18th consecutive match.

The entire match was all too predictable. Brisbane Heat spluttered again with the bat and it took another remarkable innings from Chris Lynn and powerful cameos from Daniel Christian and Ben Cutting to set up the winning total.

Heat were 3 for 57, one delivery into the 12th over, after winning the toss and electing to bat. Craig Kieswetter, Luke Pomersbach and Peter Forrest all fell within the first eight overs and Lynn and Christian had faced 19 balls without a boundary before Christian broke the shackles with a huge six to the long-off boundary off Chris Tremain.

From there anything pitched up went over the fence as Christian, Lynn and Cutting struck 11 sixes between them and Heat scored 109 runs from the last 54 balls of the innings.

Tremain and Ajantha Mendis were the two bowlers who were mauled as their eight overs combined cost 94 runs. Lynn's power hitting was both exceptional and unsurprising. He was the only man to hit Dirk Nannes for six. Nannes got his revenge removing Lynn in the 18th over to finish with 3 for 21 from his impressive spell.

Cutting again proved his worth as a lower-order batsman striking two powerful sixes in the last two overs to tick the total beyond 160.

Despite Hussey's best efforts, Thunder never got close to the target. The Thunder captain put on another masterclass compiling 60 off 37 balls and looked in total command throughout. But he got no support whatsoever from his team-mates. Usman Khawaja was the only other batsman to reach double figures, but he found the boundary just once in his run-a-ball 22.

Hussey fell in the 16th over desperate to find the rope. Cameron Gannon was the first bowler he happened to mis-hit. Gannon picked up three wickets in the over and finished with remarkable figures of 4 for 10.