Sydney Thunder capitulated to Muttiah Muralidaran and fellow spinner Aaron O'Brien as Melbourne Renegades chased down 117 to win by five wickets.
The Thunder's fate seemed sealed in the fifth over, when Chris Gayle - playing in his first game of the season - was run out when his bat stuck in the surface at the Olympic stadium just before he slid it beyond the crease.
From this point onwards the Renegades spinners took control with Muralidaran taking the key wickets of Usman Khawaja (19) and Mark Cosgrove (12), before Aaron O'Brien decimated the middle order of Chris Rogers (4), Azhar Mahmood (1) and Sean Abbott (3) in quick succession.
When Marlon Samuels took the wicket of Cameron Borgas (5), the Thunder were 7 for 60.
Good lower-order hitting from Chris Tremain (37 off 23) and steady support from Ryan Carters (19) at least gave the Thunder bowlers a target with three figures to defend.
The bowlers did not let the Sydney outfit down with Mahmood (2 for 18), Dirk Nannes (1 for 20) and Abbott (1 for 26) all impressing.
Although the Renegades made hard work of the response, the team's two in-form batsmen Aaron Finch (31) and Ben Rohrer (27) both made decent enough contributions to help their side get over the line.
William Sheridan (12) and Peter Nevill (7) were at the crease as the Renegades got the runs with 10 balls to spare.
Tags: sport, cricket, twenty20, sydney-2000, melbourne-3000 First posted December 14, 2012 22:18:57
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