Sydney Thunder tyro Muhammad Hasnain couldn’t have made a better start to his BBL career.
The fast bowler, who has already represented Pakistan in five one-day internationals and 18 T20 internationals, signed with the Thunder late last month.
The 21-year-old is the youngest bowler to have taken a hat-trick in a T20I, and has the records for the fastest deliveries in the Pakistan Super League and Caribbean Premier League.
On Sunday night, Hasnain added a triple-wicket maiden to his collection with his first over in the BBL, the only player to have ever done so.
Earlier, Ben Cutting set the Thunder up for a big innings with two sixes among his 34, having been promoted to open the batting two nights earlier in the absence of Alex Hales.
Cutting’s opening partner Matthew Gilkes found little support in the middle order, but soaked up the strike on his way to 93 from 57 balls, his second fifty of the tournament.
Former Test paceman and Strikers captain Peter Siddle wound back the clock to take three wickets, one from his own tinkering with the field.
Strikers openers Matthew Short and Jake Weatherald made a positive start in reply, lashing Saqib Mahmood and Gurinder Sandhu for 24 from the first two overs.
It was at this point Thunder captain Chris Green brought Hasnain on, and he ripped the heart from the Strikers’ top order.
Short holed out to Daniel Sams at deep backward square, Hasnain pinned Weatherald in front with the next delivery, and Jonathan Wells flicked straight to short mid-wicket two balls later.
Matt Renshaw helped his team back into the contest with 30 from 21 before he was caught at long on, leaving the Strikers 5/65.
Wicketkeeper Harry Nielsen added 39 from 31, but the Strikers’ cause appeared doomed from the moment Renshaw’s wicket fell.
Hasnain finished with figures of 3/20 from four overs, while Mahmood recovered to take two wickets and Jason Sangha claimed two wickets with his legbreaks.
After eight matches the Thunder are third on the table with five wins and three losses, while the Strikers languish in seventh with just one win.
Earlier at the Junction Oval, the Melbourne Stars could muster only 130 in reply to the Perth Scorchers’ 8/180.
Nearly half the Stars' first-choice team was missing, with Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa, Joe Burns Nathan Coulter-Nile and Beau Webster along with coach David Hussey all having tested positive for COVID-19.
Top-up players Thomas Rogers, Charlie Wakim, Justin Avendano and Xavier Crone all featured in the Stars XI after they were called up from club competition.
Kurtis Patterson’s 54 from 39 and Colin Munro’s 40 from 20 had the Scorchers humming at nearly 10 runs per over by the time they had both departed, after 12 overs.
Ashtons Turner (27 from 19) and Agar (19 from 16) added valuable runs down the order, but the Stars were able to keep the score under 200 on the smaller ground.
Qais Ahmad was the pick of the bowlers for the Melburnians with 2/26 from his four overs, while Haris Rauf got the crucial wicket of Patterson.
The Stars raced to 0/78 in reply, as Joe Clarke (52 from 37) posted his third successive fifty before he sliced straight to long-off from the bowling of Andrew Tye.
Clarke’s opening partner Rogers (32 from 25) was caught reverse sweeping off Peter Hatzoglou in the next over, and the collapse was on.
Wakim and Hilton Cartwright hit a handful of boundaries, but from the moment Clarke fell the Stars went on to lose all 10 wickets for just 52 runs.
Tymal Mills claimed three wickets from the final over, while Tye took two at an economy rate of just 3.66 from his three overs.
Hatzoglou was awarded man-of-the-match however, having taken two crucial top-order wickets and jammed up the Stars’ chase in the middle overs.
After eight matches the Scorchers are on top of the BBL table with seven wins and one loss, while the Stars have three wins from seven games and sit in sixth.
The Stars will tonight entertain the Renegades at the MCG in the first Melbourne derby of the season, while Perth will “host” the Thunder on the Gold Coast on Wednesday.