Liam Livingstone hammered six boundaries and four sixes during his knock of 78

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Liam Livingstone walloped a 49-ball 78 as the Perth Scorchers cruised to an eight-wicket win over the Sydney Thunder.

Opting to bat first, the Thunder lost opener Usman Khawaja in the fourth over as he was dismissed by Scorchers captain Mitchell Marsh for 11 runs.

Thunder skipper Callum Ferguson only made four runs before he was caught by Marsh at extra cover off the bowling of Fawad Ahmed.

Alex Hales and Arjun Nair added 48 runs to the score before Nair was caught behind off the bowling of Chris Jordan for 11.

Daniel Sams suffered the same fate as Nair three balls later, but Hales and Alex Ross steadied things with a 64-run partnership.

Hales ended up making a 59-ball 85, which included 10 boundaries and three sixes, before he was dismissed by Jordan.

With Ross going on to score an unbeaten 22, the Thunder finished on 153/5.

Jordan was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets, while Marsh and Fawad chipped in with one wicket apiece.

Chasing 154 to win, Livingstone and Josh Inglis nearly finished things off themselves as they forged a 136-run partnership in slightly more than 13 overs.

Josh Inglis & Liam Livingstone have more runs while batting together than any other duo in #BBL09 pic.twitter.com/6ttZZgaEYG

— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) January 21, 2020

Inglis ultimately made a 41-ball 58, which included six boundaries and two sixes, before he was dismissed by Gurinder Sandhu.

Livingstone went on to score 78, which came off 49 deliveries and included six boundaries and four sixes, before he was caught by Ross at deep midwicket off the bowling of Chris Morris.

Marsh and Kurtis Patterson mopped up the remaining runs to lead the Scorchers to victory with 27 balls to spare.

Sandhu and Morris claimed one wicket each.

Livingstone was named Man of the Match.