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Jason Regan

Sangha soars from sorry to sensational

Jason Sangha was so frustrated with his stalling scoring rate and dot-ball accumulation that he was moved to apologise to his Sydney Thunder teammates.



That was at the halfway stage of their innings against the Adelaide Strikers on New Year's Eve. Ten overs later, Sangha walked off Adelaide Oval triumphantly, having completed the finest knock of his burgeoning career.


His undefeated 91 propelled the Thunder to 3-187 and ultimately a 22-run BBL triumph.

"I used up a lot of balls early in the innings," Sangha said.
"I was saying to (12th man) Gurinder Sandhu at the 10-over mark 'tell the boys I'm really sorry, I'm trying hard out here but I can't seem to get bat on ball'."

After being restricted to 13 off his first 22 deliveries, Sangha crunched 78 off his last 33, savaging Strikers seamers George Garton, Peter Siddle and Daniel Worrall and combining for a match-winning unbroken 89-run fourth-wicket stand off 40 balls with good friend Ollie Davies.


"I have to credit Ollie," Sangha said. "Me and him have been mates for a long time and been talking about getting the chance to bat together out in the middle.
"When he came in he gave me a nice little smile and said 'how good is this, we can finally bat together'.
"That calmed me down and made me think 'you know what, let's just enjoy this moment together'."

Davies was making his season debut, as were paceman Brendan Doggett and tweaker Arjun Nair, after the Thunder were rocked by four positive Covid-19 cases. The match was in grave danger of being postponed until being approved in the afternoon by South Australia Health to go ahead under strict biosecurity measures.

"No doubt it (build-up) was hectic and chaotic but this is the world we're living in at the moment," Sangha said.
"You've got to be very adaptable and flexible.
"There was some angst about whether we were going to play and what the situation was going to be.
"I'm really glad we got the game in."

That the Thunder were able to perform so well with such distraction and a patched-up team - they had only four specialist batters available - made this win one to savour.

"It's not easy sitting in the hotel room, unsure if we're going to play or not, then to be told 'yep, you're on' and have one-hour preparation," Sangha said.
"It's a testament to the boys, especially those who came in for their first game.
"In such a high-pressure game at Adelaide Oval on New Year's Eve, those boys executed really well and I'm pumped for them."

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