“Let’s just watch and admire”: Matthew Wade hits 3 sixes to give Shaheen Shah Afridi treatment to Brendan Doggett at Lavington Sports Oval

During the 22nd match of the ongoing 12th season of the Big Bash League between Sydney Thunder and Hobart Hurricanes in Albury, Sydney Thunder beat Hobart Hurricanes by 62 runs to jump to the second spot on the points table on the back of their third consecutive victory.

Hurricanes, who hold the record for registering the Top Four highest successful BBL run-chases, looked set to break their own record until the halfway mark of their innings but a middle-order failure led them to third loss of the season.

Returning after a one-match suspension, Hobart captain Matthew Wade led from the front to score 67 (30) at a strike rate of 223.33. Wade, who scored two fours and six sixes, brought up his 24th T20 and 17th BBL half-century as the visitors cruised past the 100-run mark in the 10th over.

However, lack of impact-generating contributions from the likes of Tim David (25), James Neesham (13), Asif Ali (7) and Shadab Khan (1) resulted in Hurricanes getting bundled out for 166 in 17 overs.

Matthew Wade hits 3 sixes to give Shaheen Shah Afridi treatment to Brendan Doggett

Wade, who turned 35 earlier this week, was in a completely different league at the Lavington Sports Oval this afternoon. Coming in to bat at No. 3 in the third over after his openers scored only 7 runs off the first 13 deliveries, Wade scored 22 runs off his first five deliveries.

It was in the third over only that Wade brought back memories of his match-winning ICC T20 World Cup 2021 semi-final innings against Pakistan in Dubai. Facing Shaheen Shah Afridi in a crunch situation, Wade had hit three consecutive sixes (including two ramp shots) back then to seal a run-chase in the penultimate over itself.

Although Wade didn’t hit three consecutive sixes off Thunder pacer Brendan Doggett on Saturday, him hitting three ramp shots for sixes in the same over spoke highly about his skills and his confidence in them.

Wade then attacked ST all-rounder Daniel Sams welcoming him with three sixes in his first over right after the powerplay to register a stroke-filled 19-ball half-century.