Turner, bowlers hammer Sydney Thunder

Ashton Turner whacked eight fours and eight sixes in a scintillating essay of 99* from just 41 deliveries, before his bowlers ran through a hapless Sydney Thunder line-up to pave the way for a thumping 71-run victory for the Perth Scorchers. It did a world of good to Scorchers' NRR as they climbed up to third, while Thunder were pushed down to the bottom having suffered their fourth defeat in five matches.

It wasn't a full evening of domination for the Scorchers. They began on a terrible footing, losing three wickets inside the PowerPlay. Turner led the recovery a 76-run stand off just 41 balls with Cooper Connolly through the middle-overs. This included a 22-run over from Chris Green where Turner smashed three sixes and a four. Overs on either side of that carnage were expensive too as the pair dragged their side past 100 in the 12th over, when Turner also reached a 22-ball fifty.

Connolly fell in the following over and Laurie Evans departed quickly too but Turner wasn't done yet. He combined with Aaron Hardie for 52-run alliance off just 28 deliveries to push his side in the death overs. Hardie's 16-ball 28 included five fours - four of them coming against Nathan McAndrew in the 18-run 17th over. Sams's next over fetched 17 runs as the Scorchers galloped towards a 190-plus total. Topley took out Hardie in the 19th over but Turner responded to that with a four and a six in the same over. He took two sixes on the first two balls of the 20th over from Sams, who closed out the innings with the wickets of Ashton Agar and Joel Paris. Scorchers however smashed 74 of the last 30 balls to finish on 202/8.

Though David Warner started the chase with a six, that total proved to be a bridge too far for the struggling Thunder. Warner and Matthew Gilkes showed some promise and fight with a 60-run partnership off 40 balls but what followed once that broke was bleak and insufficient. Both the openers fell in the space of four deliveries after the PowerPlay, and then began a middle-overs capitulation. Thunder went from 81/2 in the 10th over to 112/8 in the 15th. They eventually folded for 131 in the 18th over, with the quartet of Connolly, Brody Couch, Joel Paris and Hardie picking two wickets each.

Brief Scores: Perth Scorchers 202/8 in 20 overs (Ashton Turner 99*, Aaron Hardie 28; Daniel Sams 4-51, Reece Topley 2-34) beat Sydney Thunder 131 in 17.3 overs (Matthew Gilkes 33; Cooper Connolly 2-26, Brody Couch 2-28, Joel Paris 2-28, Aaron Hardie 2-7) by 71 runs