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Alex Hales praised for classy act after nasty fan incident in BBL

A spectator was struck in the face during the Sydney Thunder's clash with Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League.

sam goodwin
Sports Editor
·4-min read
Alex Hales, pictured here after a spectator was struck in the face in the BBL.
Alex Hales attempted to check on a spectator who had been struck in the face in the BBL. Image: Getty/Channel 7

Alex Hales is being praised by cricket fans after attempting to check on a spectator that had been struck in the head by the ball in the BBL on Tuesday night. The England batter was in action for the Sydney Thunder against Adelaide Strikers when he skied a huge six into the stands.

Unfortunately for one man in the crowd, his apparent attempt to catch the ball went awry and he was struck in the face. TV cameras showed the moment the man was left clutching at his face in pain, while spectators in the direct vicinity were left shocked by the incident.

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The man received attention from security guards before he was escorted up the race to get some medical help. The ugly incident sparked a delay for a number of minutes as players and officials paused for a drinks break.

Hales showed his concern for the spectator and walked over to the boundary line to make sure he was ok. Unfortunately for Hales the man had already started walking out of the stands by the time he get over to the fence to check on him.

Nevertheless, the classy gesture from Hales earned applause around the cricket world.

Adelaide Strikers beat Sydney Thunder again

Hales' brilliant knock of 68 off 50 balls wasn't enough as the Thunder lost to the Strikers for the second time in a week. The crowd at the Adelaide Oval broke into a round of applause in the third over when the Thunder's score went past the world record low 15 they set against the Strikers on Friday night.

Hales put on 63 for the third wicket with young gun Ollie Davies (42), before both were dismissed by Colin de Grandhomme (2-25). The Thunder were eyeing a total in excess of 180 after reaching 2-79 at the halfway stage, but were restricted to 3-71 in the last 10 overs to finish at 5-150.

Matt Short then helped the Strikers maintain their perfect start to the BBL season with a six-wicket win, chasing down the Thunder's total with eight balls to spare. Short continued his impressive start to the season, making 65 off 44 balls to remain the competition's leading run-scorer.

Matt Short, pictured here in action for the Adelaide Strikers against Sydney Thunder in the BBL.
Matt Short in action for the Adelaide Strikers against Sydney Thunder in the BBL. (Photo by Mark Brake - CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)

Short dominated an 83-run, second-wicket partnership with Chris Lynn (28). Both men fell to superb yorkers from left-arm pacer Nathan McAndrew (2-25), Lynn's castle disturbed and Short trapped in front, before English import Adam Hose (28 not out) came in and applied the finishing touches.

"My job at the top of the order is to make runs and I feel like I'm doing that reasonably consistently now," Short said. "It shows we can win games if we bat first or second. (The team had) a big emphasis on starting well and getting early wins to set us up and we've definitely done that."

The Thunder are now 1-3 on the season. "We were maybe 15-20 (runs) short with the bat ... but I would have still backed us to win that game if we'd bowled to our best ability," Gurinder Sandhu said.

"We could have bowled better, we could have batted better and we could have had more energy in the field. We haven't done all those things well in one game."

with AAP

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