Lasith Malinga took 6 for 7, the best ever figures in domestic Twenty20, as the Melbourne Stars dismissed the Perth Scorchers for 69 - the lowest ever Big Bash score - en route to a 10-wicket win.
Amid farcical scenes, the Stars returned to the field on 0 for 29 from two overs after a rain delay and were required to face one ball before being awarded the game via the Duckworth/Lewis method.
Most onlookers believed five overs had to be played to bring about a result, but the umpires ruled that as the Stars had already exceeded the necessary target needed at that point in the game (6), they were awarded the match.
Scorchers captain Simon Katich did not like the finish to the game at all with the sides coming back out for one ball after over an hour of constant rain.
But he admitted to not deserving to get a point anyway thanks to Malinga's spell.
"He bowled beautifully," Katich said.
"He bowled yorkers that were on the money from the word go, swung the ball and then he had good variations with his slower ball and the odd bumper.
"Unfortunately we just couldn't counter it and he won them the game singlehandedly.
"It was farcical, but they deserved to win and we don't hide away from that. It probably should have been (called off), but that's the way it goes.
"It's never going to be fair because they did deserve to win the game, but at the same time the conditions still have to be playable for both teams and we had a lot of rain in that hour."
Malinga's new-ball partner James Faulkner began the carnage in the Perth innings dismissing Herschelle Gibbs (0) and added the wicket of Katich (0) after Malinga had bowled Marcus North (1) in his first over.
The Sri Lankan slinger took the wicket of Marcus Stoinis (9) in the following over to leave the Scorchers decimated at 4 for 16.
Malinga himself was pleased with the way the Stars bounced back from last Friday's loss to the Renegades.
"Everyone was waiting for the win after we lost the first game," he said.
"We know we have a good side and we have a long way to go in the tournament still, but this win is very important to us.
"Last week was a tough and tight game, but after that everyone did well in this match and we now will try and take that into the future matches."
Adam Voges and rookie Hilton Cartwright steadied the shop until the end of the powerplay but Stars skipper Shane Warne forced a breakthrough in his second over trapping the former leg before.
Malinga then returned to the attack had top-scorer Cartwright (17) caught at midwicket, trapped the next two leg before, before bowling Joe Mennie (2) to take his haul to six.
Luke Wright then took the final wicket of Michael Beer to leave Perth with the unwanted record of the lowest ever total in Australian Twenty20 competition - beating New South Wales' total of 71 against Western Australia, also at the WACA Ground - in 2010.
The only cricketer to record better bowling figures than Malinga is Malaysian part-time spinner Arul Suppiah who took 6 for 5 for Somerset against Glamorgan in 2011.
The Stars in response reached their target in two overs, with Luke Wright hitting 23 off 11 balls, before rain forced the players off.
Rob Quiney (1) faced the lone ball after the resumption, a swinging ball down the leg side from Cartwright.
AAP
Tags: sport, cricket, twenty20, perth-6000, melbourne-3000 First posted December 12, 2012 21:31:53
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