Ashton Turner has revealed he was happy for Ashton Agar to blast away for as many runs as possible, even though it ultimately robbed him of a maiden BBL century on Tuesday night. Turner was cruelly stranded on 99 not out in the Perth Scorchers‘ 71-run victory over the Sydney Thunder, becoming the fourth player in the competition’s history to suffer the fate.
Turner was on 98 with four balls remaining in the Scorchers’ batting innings. He hit the fourth-last ball for a single, which put Agar on strike with three deliveries to come.
Ashton Turner was stranded at the non-striker’s end on 99 not out. Image: Fox Cricket/Getty
Many were hoping Agar would simply knock a single and get Turner back on strike with two balls remaining for a chance to get his first-ever BBL ton. But Agar slammed the next delivery to the long-on boundary for four, and was then caught in the deep on the penultimate delivery trying to hit a six.
It meant Joel Paris was on strike for the final ball of the innings, and Turner was stranded at the non-striker’s end on 99. It made him the fourth player in BBL history to score 99 not out, joining Shaun Marsh (2011), Josh Philippe (2021) and Colin Munro (2023).
Speaking in commentary for Fox Sports, Brad Haddin and Brendon Julian said Agar should have come back for a second run when Turner hit the initial single and ‘sacrificed’ himself to get Turner back on strike. Haddin even suggested he wouldn’t have run at all if he was in Turner’s shoes.
Ashton Turner’s classy move that cost himself a century
Fans are heavily divided on the actions of Agar, with many of the belief he should have simply looked to get off strike. But speaking after the game, Turner revealed his instructions to Agar were to go big.
Turner admitted he had it in the back of his mind that the Scorchers lost despite scoring 257 against the Brisbane Heat, and wanted the team to score as many runs as possible to avoid a repeat. It meant he put the team ahead of his individual milestone.
“I knew what I was on, but I also had 200 in my mind as a really good team score and we were approaching that,” Turner said after the Scorchers finished 8-202. “We had 260 chased down a week ago so you are never thinking you have enough runs. We wanted to scrap together every run we could.”
Ashton Turner was happy for Ashton Agar to try and hit boundaries. (Photo by Jeremy Ng/Getty Images)
The 7Cricket account jokingly posted that Agar needed to “read the room” and that it was “criminal” he didn’t get Turner back on strike. But many defended Agar and said the team should always come before individual.
“Can’t be critical of Agar at the end – go for the boundaries rather than individual milestones,” one person wrote. “Turner would’ve tried to hit the last ball for six if he was on strike. Team game.”
Another person wrote: “In an effort to maximise runs v give your teammate a century…you maximise runs.” While a third added: “100% Ashton Agar did the right thing in that situation.”