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BATHURST cricket graduate Blake Dean had a tough introduction to the Big Bash League on Saturday night as he and his Sydney Thunder team-mates were unable to snap their losing streak in the Twenty20 competition, going down by six wickets to the Sydney Sixers.
The night started in good fashion as Dean, who holds a supplementary contract with Thunder, was called into the starting side to replace the injured Luke Doran.
He watched from the sidelines at the SCG as team-mates Usman Khawaja and David Warner made a cracking start after Thunder were sent into bat, the duo notching up a record opening partnership for the franchise.
They took the score into triple figures in quick time as they scored at more than 10 runs per over, but once that stand was broken things swung back in the Sixers’ favour.
Dean made three runs coming in late in the innings while his two overs of leg spin bowling went for 29 runs.
As the Sixers chased down their target of 167 for victory with 10 deliveries to spare, they made it four consecutive wins over their Sydney rivals.
While it was not the sort of debut he would have hoped for, it was still a big moment in Dean’s career as he played in front of crowd of 18,180.
Now playing his club cricket in Queanbeyan, 26-year-old Dean began the week simply hopeful of seeing some game time in the Big Bash League.
“It’s definitely exciting, I’ve never been involved in a program like it [the Thunder] before,” he said. “With the contract I’m on, it’s just like being part of the squad, I’m just not getting paid.
“But it’s a high quality side and just the experience of being around those kind of players is going to be pretty valuable.”
He was solid in two trial matches on Wednesday and Thursday – playing for a Sydney Grade Cricket team and the ACT Comets against Thunder. With Doran injured in one of those games, the former Rugby Union Cricket Club player got his chance.
With Sixers skipper Steve Smith opting to bowl first after winning the toss on Saturday night, Dean began the match sitting on the bench and watching Khawaja and Warner take control.
Warner hit 50 off 31 balls before he was the first to fall in the 11th over, but at that point Thunder were in a dominant position at 1-116. There was event talk of them going on to register just the fourth score of more than 200 in the Big Bash League.
It was not to be.
When number seven Dean arrived at the crease in the 18th over, Thunder were at 5-150. It was an awkward situation for the all-rounder as he could not really afford any sighters.
He managed to tuck away the first delivery he faced off Josh Hazelwood.
After failing to connect with the first delivery of the next over bowled by Ravi Bopara, he scampered through for a bye when the ball kept low and beat both him and wicketkeeper Dan Smith.
Dean managed to chip the third ball he faced from Bopara back over the bowler’s head for two runs, but the next delivery he faced was his last.
Former Australian star Brett Lee beat him with a 144 km/hr yorker, Dean backing away to try and give himself room to hit but unable to connect.
Thunder went on to reach 166 for the loss of six wickets, a competitive total but short of where they had hoped to finish.
Dean got his first chance with the ball in the ninth over of the Sixers innings and he managed to beat Nic Maddinson – who would later be named man of the match – with his opening delivery.
He also beat current Australian Test batsman Steve Smith with a wrong-un, but his over was made expensive with a front foot no-ball which was dispatched to the boundary.
Still, Thunder skipper Mike Hussey opted to give Dean a second over. This provided both his match highlight and the biggest frustration of his debut.
He managed to make a breakthrough when Maddinson chased a wide delivery and was caught out by Warner for 61, the dismissal taking the score to 3-91.
“This could be the game changer now, right here,” commentator Viv Richards said.
But a second no-ball and more wides followed, Dean’s 12-ball over costing 20 runs to give him match figures of 1-29 off two overs.
He toiled in the field to try and make up for that loose bowling, at one stage nearly preventing a Bopara boundary as he chased hard and tried to flick the ball back, but it was to no avail.
The Sixers went on to record a comfortable win while Thunder fell to their 14th consecutive defeat.